Shot In The Arm: Anthrax vaccine opponents are finding more allies in Congress

by Laura Laughlin

Phoenix New Times

March 16, 2000

Opponents of a controversial Pentagon program that is forcing all members of
the military to be inoculated against anthrax have a new unlikely ally in
U.S. Senator John McCain.

McCain, whom anthrax opponents say has never returned their calls or letters
seeking his support, has called for a suspension of the mandatory program.
McCain, a former Navy fighter pilot and perhaps the best-known POW in the
country, is a loyal Pentagon supporter. In fact, Secretary of Defense
William Cohen, who ordered the anthrax vaccination program and has
consistently defended it, was best man at McCain's 1980 wedding.

Until recently, McCain has been campaigning hard to win the Republican
nomination for president. But last week he suspended his campaign following
primary election losses to Texas Governor George W. Bush.

Perhaps anthrax opponents shouldn't have been surprised when McCain
announced last month his reluctance to move ahead with the anthrax program.
He did it at a campaign rally in Balboa Park in San Diego, a city with a
large population of Navy personnel and their families.

McCain told the crowd the military needed to do a better job convincing the
public and the troops that the program is a necessary one. He called for "a
pause" that would allow Pentagon officials to gather the research and
scientific evidence that it is necessary for all 2.4 million members of the
active and reserve armed forces to be vaccinated.

"I'm not saying that I know enough to say that it (the program) should never
be, but right now members of the armed services, Guard and reserves are not
accepting it," McCain said, according to a San Diego-Union Tribune article.

Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Jim Kolbe (R-Tucson) has signed on as
co-sponsor of a House resolution which also would place a moratorium on the
vaccination plan until further studies have been completed.

Kolbe says he has heard arguments on both sides of the issue from friends in
the Air Force. He is supporting suspension of the program while questions
about its safety and necessity are investigated further.

"It's better to err on the side of caution," he says. The congressman says
the vaccine appears to be of limited value in protecting against a
biological attack. And he says the chances of such an attack are slim. So he
sees no "medical urgency" for moving ahead with the blanket inoculation
policy.

Although the Pentagon says the program is necessary to protect troops
against biological weapons, many in the military and the scientific
community question the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine ("Shot to
Hell," Laura Laughlin, January 27). They claim it is outdated and that it
might not work on inhaled forms of anthrax, the most likely form of a
biological weapon. There have been no studies of long-term effects, and they
suspect the shots are linked to hundreds of cases of unexplained illnesses
that some who have received the shots are experiencing -- including
immune-system disorders, chronic joint and muscle pain and neurological
problems.

The government says shots have been given to about 400,000 troops (about
6,000 in Arizona) with only a few documented cases of serious effects.

Hundreds of military personnel have refused the shots or left the military
rather than roll up their sleeves. And dozens have been disciplined or court
martialed for disobeying the order to be inoculated.

The mere mention of the anthrax vaccine by political leaders is a boost to
those seeking a halt to the program. They had pushed for debate on the issue
in the presidential race, but received little attention.

And they'll probably have an even tougher time convincing the two contenders
remaining in the 2000 presidential race to take up their cause. The likely
Democratic nominee, Vice President Al Gore, isn't expected to condemn a
program begun during his administration.

Bush, a shoo-in for the GOP nomination, has been pledging in campaign
speeches to boost morale in the armed services and build up the military.
But last month he told veterans he hadn't heard anything about the
two-year-old anthrax program.

Kolbe recently joined 38 other members of Congress in sponsoring HR 2548,
which calls for a moratorium until further research is conducted. Another
option floating around Congress would make the program voluntary rather than
mandatory.

Aides say the congressman has been swayed by the number of comments and
concerns about the program. Kolbe also has been in touch with southern
Arizona constituents who have sought his help on the issue.

One of those is Robert Ramirez, a Davis-Monthan Air Force Base master
sergeant who has been battling health problems since he began receiving the
shots overseas in 1998. Ramirez, who was profiled in the New Times article
in January, says he tried for five months to get a response from McCain. He
finally received a note from the senator's office asking him to sign a
statement requesting an investigation into his case.

Meanwhile, an aide for Kolbe recently called Ramirez at home to ask how
things were going. Ramirez says he suggested Kolbe conduct a Town Hall in
Tucson to air out the issue with members of the military and others
concerned about the program.

But the congressman isn't likely to convene such a meeting. Kolbe says while
there is growing interest nationally about the issue, he doubts there are
enough interested people in the Tucson area to warrant a Town Hall
gathering.

In the Phoenix area, Lorraine King has been trying to organize a group of
citizens interested in pressuring lawmakers to call for a halt to the
program. A schoolteacher and mother of an airman stationed at Luke Air Force
Base, King says she got little or no support when she called the offices of
McCain and U.S. Representative Bob Stump. Another call to the local American
Legion office was fruitless, she says, but the national organization did
tell her it has asked for a re-evaluation of the program.

Some of the opponents' concerns have been getting through to congressional
leaders. A congressional subcommittee that had investigated the anthrax
immunization program recently delivered a scathing report, calling for the
suspension of the program until further, accelerated research can be
completed and a better vaccine can be developed. The report, which was
adopted last week by the full House Government Reform Committee, says use of
the vaccine is not being adequately monitored, its effectiveness and safety
are uncertain and the program is too broad and too logistically complex. In
addition, the report says the program raises "an ominous question: Who
protects the force from ill-conceived force protection?" (The 76-page report
is available online at www.house.gov/reform/ns/reports/anthrax1.pdf).

In a study in a medical journal last month, researchers suggested a link
between the Gulf War Syndrome and the anthrax vaccine. Pam Asa, a Tulane
University Medical Center doctor who has studied auto-immune disorders,
found evidence that squalene -- an experimental vaccine additive -- may have
been used in the anthrax vaccine administered to troops in the Persian Gulf
in 1991. Between 100,000 and 200,000 veterans of the war have complained of
physical problems, including muscle aches and pain, chronic fatigue and skin
problems, that are similar to those reported by others who were not in the
Gulf War but have received the anthrax shots under the new program, doctors
say.

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