Anthrax vaccine draws protests

by Jerry Allegood

The [Raleigh] News and Observer

April 23, 2000

Summary:

Some experienced military personnel resign rather than take the shots; others face charges over their refusal to be inoculated.

Text:

For some military personnel, the threat they fear most doesn't come from missiles, bombs or bullets. It's a shot from a tiny vial of vaccine.

The Department of Defense says the vaccine is needed to protect U.S. troops from anthrax, a deadly bacteria that could be used as a formidable biological weapon. But two years after the military began a mandatory vaccination of 2.4 million Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen, opposition to the program persists.

At least 350 military personnel, including half a dozen in North Carolina, have been charged with failing to obey an order for refusing to take the vaccine. Others have left the service - a response that alarms critics who say the military is losing too many well-trained people over the issue.

The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, recently warned the Senate Armed Services Committee that the anthrax vaccination program could hit another snag later this year if supplies of the vaccine run short.

The GAO says Bioport Corp., the only manufacturer of the vaccine, has not been able to produce an adequate supply.

The Pentagon says about 420,000 service members have received anthrax vaccinations, including thousands stationed at North Carolina's major military installations.

Spokesmen for Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in Jacksonville, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro and Fort Bragg Army Base in Fayetteville cite the large number of vaccinations as evidence that the program is working well.

Some who have received the vaccine, however, have reported fatigue, severe joint pain, autoimmune disorders and thyroid damage. Pentagon officials say the inoculations can be blamed for serious health problems in only a few cases, posing a risk level similar to or lower than that of other vaccines.

Gregg LaGrand of Cary, an 11-year Air Force veteran, said he resigned from the Air Force Reserve last August because of uncertainty about the long-term effects of the vaccine.

"It's one thing to go out and face the dangers of flying an airplane in combat situations where you are trained and know the risks," said LaGrand, who flew air refueling tankers during the Persian Gulf war. "This is a situation where they are inoculating with something where we have no idea about the long-term risks."

LaGrand said pilots would be reluctant to report adverse reactions to the vaccine because they would be grounded for medical reasons. He said he knew of other pilots and trained technicians who probably will leave the service rather than take a chance.

LaGrand, who had been flying KC-130 aircraft at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, said he couldn't risk an illness that would threaten his private employment as a pilot for United Parcel Service. If he took the vaccine and became sick, he said, he wouldn't be able to fly commercially and probably would have a tough time convincing the Air Force that the vaccine was to blame.

LaGrand said a group of pilots in the Connecticut Air National Guard began research on the vaccine in 1998 and spread their findings through the military with a grass-roots campaign. He said there have been cases of healthy individuals becoming sick within a week or two of taking the shots.

Congress is considering legislation proposed by a North Carolina congressman that would make the vaccination voluntary.

U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, a Republican from Farmville, said he introduced the legislation after hearing from scores of service members worried about long-term effects of the vaccine.

"Our men and women should never feel that they are guinea pigs," said Jones, who called for a moratorium on vaccinations.

Military personnel are required to receive a series of six anthrax vaccinations over 18 months.

The inoculation is routine at military clinics in North Carolina, where medical personnel say they may administer a few one week and hundreds the next.

Army Spc. Jason Jones, a military police officer, stopped by Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg one day recently for his sixth shot of the vaccine.

"It burns now, but that's normal," Jones said after receiving the shot in his arm. He said he had no ill effects from the earlier shots and didn't fear any.

Navy Cmdr. Byron Hendrick, a physician and medical officer at Camp Lejeune, said a defense against anthrax is necessary because it is easy to produce anthrax and to turn it into a weapon.

"Once you take away the sting of the weapon, then you make people go to a different type of biological weapon - one that is more difficult to produce and one that is hopefully impossible to produce, or much less virulent and much less lethal," he said.

Anthrax is commonly associated with animals, including goats and sheep, and the bacteria, in their spore state, are found in soil around the world. In addition to being easy to produce in a lab, Hendrick said, anthrax is one of the most lethal biological agents known.

In a likely scenario for its use as a weapon, an enemy would spread the spores, which would be inhaled by troops. Within 24 hours, a victim would begin suffering flu-like ailments.

Pneumonia and severe respiratory problems would follow as the spores germinated and spread through the lungs, releasing toxin. Without treatment, death would come within 72 hours.

Hendrick said the vaccine has been used safely since 1970. He said there have been no long-term side effects among about 1,600 employees of Army medical facilities, including older researchers who would be more likely to develop adverse reactions.

But critics say the vaccine used by the Department of Defense was developed for people who handle animals or wool and pick up anthrax spores or bacteria on their skin, but is not effective against anthrax contracted by inhaling spores.

LaGrand said the Defense Department's credibility had been weakened by its unwillingness to acknowledge the health problems of veterans exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam or those who have had ailments blamed on service in the Gulf War.

"I have a lot of patriotism and I'd go again if they really needed me to fly an airplane in a combat situation," he said. "I just won't take an anthrax shot."