By Pamela Hess

United Press International

January 14, 2000 17:33

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The Air Force for the first time charged Friday an officer with failure to obey a lawful order for refusing to take his required anthrax immunization.

Maj. Sonnie Bates, 35, of Ellendale, Del., declined to accept an administrative punishment and is instead opting for a court-marital, which could carry jail time if he is found guilty. Bates is a C-5 pilot at Dover Air Force Base. He will be the first officer to be so charged for refusing to take the inoculation. A court date has not yet been set and may be averted if Maj. Gen. John Hopper, commander of the 21st Air Force and the court-martial convening authority in this case decides to dismiss the charges.

Defense Secretary William Cohen in May 1998 required that all service members submit to the immunization program, which is intended to protect them against the deadly disease that is most likely to be used as a weapon on a battlefield.

The Air Force says 110,000 Air Force personnel have received the immunization.

Bates refuses because he believes the vaccination makes people sick rather than protects them from disease, his wife Roxane Bates said.

Maj. Bates asserts that many people at Dover have become ill with Gulf War Syndrome-like symptoms -- ringing in the ears, an inability to concentrate, bone and joint pain, liver damage -- after beginning the six-course anthrax immunization program.

"People are ill all around him," said his wife.

Maj. Bates testified to Congress on Oct. 12 on his findings after interviewing a list of pilots at Dover that were temporarily unable to fly because of illnesses.

He initially asked for a "safety time out" -- a waiver of the immunization requirement until the safety of the vaccination is proven over time -- but it was refused, she said.

The Air Force says it gave him three extensions to change his mind. He refused the order to begin the immunization in December.

Bates also asked to be allowed to resign but was not allowed to, his wife said.

"That would have been punishment enough," she said, as her husband is six and a half years shy of having 20-years of service in the military, which would entitle him to a military pension.

He refuses, she told United Press International, "because people are ill. He would be no good to the country or his family (if he got sick too). He's one of these people that does his job no matter whatHe's a leader not a follower."

Roxane supports her husband's resistance to the order. "I have a son with autism. I don't need any more disabled people in my family," she said.

The Pentagon insists the vaccine is safe, as it has been in use by veterinarians since 1970. It also maintains it is unrelated to Gulf War illness, although it concedes some of the short-term reactions to the vaccine in a small number of recipients are similar to symptoms reported by some Gulf War veterans.

"From 5 percent up to 35 percent will notice muscle aches, joint aches, headaches, rash, chills, fever, nausea, loss of appetite, malaise, or related symptoms," but they only last a few days, states the Pentagon's anthrax information Web site.

The Pentagon says it does not track how many service members refuse to take the immunization as it prefers individual commanders to handle the matter.