Vaccine Offer Draws Few Postal Workers
Shots Available as Supplement to Drugs In Effort to Prevent Anthrax Outbreaks

By Steve Twomey
Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, December 28, 2001; Page A06

The needle stung a bit, and the vaccine left his arm a tad numb, but postal employee Danny Wiggins Sr. emerged from his place of work yesterday to proclaim that being inoculated against anthrax was "a breeze" and his colleagues ought to join him in accepting the government's offer of a shot of prevention.

Only a smattering did, though, as federal health officials began making available a vaccine as a supplement to the antibiotics intended to prevent further outbreaks of anthrax among postal workers and others exposed to spores shed by two terrorist letters in October.

By 5 p.m., vaccinations had been given to four workers at a facility in the 3000 block of V Street NE, one of several locations where the 2,100 employees of Washington's main postal center, known as Brentwood, now work after it was closed because of spore contamination.

"I feel as though the vaccine is helpful to clear the spores from your lungs," said Wiggins, 38, a maintenance worker who was headed home with anthrax literature and a chart on which to keep track of any side effects from the shot he received at V Street. He added, "More of us need to take it."

Vaccinations were also given to two Brentwood workers now based at a postal facility in Hyattsville, where the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also set up shop yesterday. It will do so today at postal facilities in Gaithersburg and Capitol Heights.

The vaccination program, announced earlier this month, was a surprise, because workers who might have been exposed to spores were told initially that taking antibiotics for 60 days would prevent inhalation anthrax, which killed two postal workers and sickened two others from Brentwood after letters bound for Capitol Hill were processed there.

But the CDC, saying it was being "extra careful" with a little-understood disease, now wants workers to consider taking an additional 40 days of drugs and getting vaccinated as well, because spores might survive in the lungs longer than thought. That shift has bred suspicion and confusion, in part because the CDC only urged workers to consider further steps, without recommending either that they take additional antibiotics or be vaccinated.

Moreover, the vaccine has never been administered after exposure, which has led numerous Brentwood workers to say that taking the vaccine would make them "guinea pigs." Federal health officials believe the vaccine is safe and are offering extensive explanations of the benefits and risks in meetings with postal workers.

Last week, four dozen Capitol Hill employees began receiving the anthrax vaccine, which is administered in three shots over a month.

By 5 p.m. yesterday, 106 workers at V Street and in Hyattsville had consulted six-person teams of CDC workers at the facilities, said CDC spokeswoman Sandra S. Smith. Of those, 74 had decided to take antibiotics for 40 more days, and six had opted for both the additional drugs and the vaccination. The rest had not made a decision and have until Jan. 7 to do so, along with all other Brentwood workers.

At a sidewalk news conference outside the V Street facility, Jim Hayslett, a CDC epidemic intelligence service officer, said a minority of Brentwood workers seem wary of the new preventive program. He called the workers "a great group of people" who had been thrust into a situation "they had no control over" and said the CDC's goal was to give employees information to make their own choices.

Hayslett, who took antibiotics for 60 days because he visited Brentwood before it was closed, said he would get a shot of vaccine, whose possible side effects include pain and swelling in the arm.

Wiggins said he had consulted with his wife and family doctor and decided to accept more antibiotics and an inoculation, because "I'd rather be here today than dead tomorrow." He knew both of the postal workers who died, he said.

Steve Kapcoe, 50, a Brentwood technician, said he "religiously" took 60 days of antibiotics and had decided to continue them, but not to receive the vaccine. The drugs have kept him healthy, he said. "So far, so good."

But, echoing the comments of numerous postal workers interviewed in recent days, Delancy Praylow Jr. said he was suspicious of the vaccine and would not take it. He said he has not taken any antibiotics, either: "I trust in God only."