Patients' Survey At Dover AFB Indicates Anthrax Vaccine Ills

Dave Eberhart

Stars and Stripes

February 23, 2001

Unhappy with the official system for reporting adverse reactions to the Anthrax vaccine, servicemembers, patients and family members at Dover Air Force Base, Del. have collected their own data.

"The absence of valid statistical data has been a stumbling block for those interested in understanding how safe--or unsafe--the anthrax vaccine really is," said Dr. Meryl Nass of Freeport, Maine. "The information can't be pried out of the Department of Defense."

"So now," she said recently, "the patients themselves at Dover Air Force Base, Del., are initiating scientific studies to gather the information we all need."

Nass played a major role in forming a coalition that has fought the Pentagon's controversial anthrax vaccine immunization program. She has consulted for the General Accounting Office, testified before the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, veterans affairs and international relations and the House Armed Services Committee, and provided testimony to the Institute of Medicine.

Long Term Illness

According to Nass, members of the 9th Airlift Squadron at Dover Air Force Base began receiving the anthrax shots in the early autumn of 1998. Since then, she said, a number of individuals have developed long-term illnesses and been removed from flight status. Many other members say they have begun experiencing health problems.

The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) should reveal such information, said Nass.

However, in conversation, many who are experiencing problems are afraid to report their symptoms to the medical community, and will not fill out a VAERS report, said the authors of the informal survey. "They have seen their peers removed from flying status because of medical problems and are unwilling to risk the same fate." the authors said.

In reaction to the dearth of data, servicemembers, hospital patients and other parties at Dover drafted and distributed an unofficial survey to learn the true extent of these problems.

Questions

A list of questions along with a cover letter was sent to the home addresses of 265 squadron members, according to the survey authors. The only members excluded were the administrative workers who had not yet been vaccinated.

"It is obvious that this report has some limitations," the survey authors said, admitting that "causality cannot be established" between the symptoms reported and the anthrax vaccine because of the absence of a control group.

"Therefore, it would be impossible to scientifically conclude that anthrax has caused these reported symptoms, or even that the number of symptoms reported is higher than that experienced by the general population. Additionally, no medical expert was used in formulating the survey."

Of the 265 surveys sent out, 139 (55 per cent) were returned. The subjects were asked: "From the time you received your first anthrax vaccination, have you started to experience any of the following symptoms?" The numbers following the symptoms are affirmative responses.

á  Ringing in the ears--12

á  Significant hearing loss--3

á  Skin rashes not near injection site--17

á  Itchy skin--21

á  Numbness/loss of sensation in body parts--16

á  Joint and/or muscle pain including arthritis--57

á  Loss of energy/constant tiredness--41

á  Recurring headaches--26

á  Difficulty sleeping--24

á  Nausea, loss of appetite or abdominal pain--9

á  Severe hair loss--8

á  Vertigo--8

á  Balance problems/light-headedness--15

á  Short-term memory loss--34

á  Reduced concentration--36

á  Chills and fever immediately following vaccine--11

á  Other--24