Anthrax Shots, Illness Linked, Congress Told

By John Whitesides

Reuters

October 3, 2000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military's mandatory anthrax inoculations are making people sick and should be halted or made voluntary, a series of witnesses who became ill after taking the shots told Congress on Tuesday.

``I and my fellow service members who have been sickened by the anthrax vaccine come to you, our elected representatives, for help,'' Maj. Jon Irelan told the House Government Reform Committee at a hearing. ``Please don't abandon us.''

Irelan said he was feeling fine before his fourth shot of anthrax vaccine in October 1999, but by the next day he began to suffer weight gain, facial hair loss, shrunken testicles, mood swings and a loss of strength.

Irelan, whose condition improved after he began taking regular testosterone shots, said the Army did not see any connection between the vaccine and his illness. But many of the witnesses did.

``If you suspected that giving any medication or shot to your son or daughter would risk hurting them, would you hand them the pill or inject them?'' Senior Airman Thomas Colosimo asked lawmakers.

He told the panel he developed multiple cysts on his skull, suffered repeated blackouts and had been unable to work or travel since the onset of his condition after he received the vaccine.

Effort Has Slowed

The Pentagon has slowed its effort to inoculate all 2.4 million active and reserve U.S. troops against the deadly anthrax biological agent because of a shortage of vaccine and lack of final Food and Drug Administration approval for a new supply plant.

Several witnesses complained that military doctors had misdiagnosed their illnesses in an attempt to keep them from pointing a finger at the vaccination program.

The hearing follows the recent death of a worker at the Michigan plant of the vaccine supplier, BioPort Corp., in the midst of his series of anthrax shots.

A medical examiner said the death was an ``inflammatory response'' to the vaccine. But BioPort said last week the doctor who performed the autopsy ruled the death of Richard Dunn could not be linked to the vaccine.

Dunn's wife, Barbara, testified on Tuesday that ``a lot of people have been made sick by the vaccine'' and urged that the military inoculation program be made optional.

``Nothing can be done to bring my husband back, but I ask this committee to please rethink this program and make it a safe one,'' she said.

Republican Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, whose subcommittee recommended earlier this year that the program be made voluntary until an updated vaccine was developed, said he had ``come to doubt the judgement, the foresight and the competence'' of the Pentagon's stewardship of the program.

No U.S. Vaccine Being Made

About 487,000 active and reserve troops have taken at least one of the series of vaccinations, but stored supplies of approved vaccines are running short, and no new vaccine is being produced in the United States.

The Pentagon has begun to give the vaccinations only to those troops headed for high-risk areas such as South Korea and the Gulf, where they could be threatened by biological agents developed by Iraq or North Korea.

It is currently considering bids for a second commercial manufacturing source of the vaccine to share the job with BioPort, but officials have said it could take two to four years for one to be approved and begin operating.

Charles L. Cragin, a principal deputy undersecretary of defense, told the panel that 13 studies had established the vaccine's safety.

``We are eager to resume and expand our vaccination effort to include the total force as soon as an adequate supply of safe and effective FDA-licensed vaccine becomes available,'' he said.

Government officials have said there have been about 1,400 ''adverse events'' out of nearly 2 million doses administered, but Cragin said the Pentagon would move ahead with the program, as the threat from anthrax spores, which are odorless and invisible and 100 percent lethal if inhaled, continued to grow.