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DoD RESUMES MANDATORY ANTHRAX VACCINATIONS --
Vaccine safety advocates oppose Pentagon's new
policy.
This is not good news for our troops.
I feel this vaccine is still unsafe and should not be used.
We have three stories.
First is the DoD press release.
Second is the American Forces Information
Service news article (propaganda).
And, third is a press release from the
National Vaccine Information Center...obviously opposed to this move.
First story here...
http://www.defenselink.mil/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=10083
Story below:
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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1038-06
October 16, 2006
DoD to Resume Anthrax Vaccinations
The Department of Defense announced today a resumption of the mandatory
Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP) for military personnel,
emergency-essential DoD civilians and contractors, based on defined
geographic areas or roles.
For the most part, mandatory vaccinations are limited to military units
designated for homeland bioterrorism defense and to U.S. forces assigned
to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility and Korea.
The under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness will issue
implementing instructions to the military services for resuming the
mandatory vaccination program within 30 to 60 days.
"The anthrax vaccine will protect our troops from another threat--a
disease that will kill, caused by a bacteria that already has been used
as a weapon in America, and that terrorists openly discuss,” said Dr.
William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health
affairs.
The policy also allows personnel previously immunized against anthrax,
who are no longer deployed to higher threat areas, to receive follow-up
vaccine doses and booster shots on a voluntary basis
Under the voluntary vaccination policy, implemented during the period of
a court injunction throughout 2005, the voluntary acceptance rate was
about 50 percent.
“This rate of vaccination not only put the service members at risk, but
also jeopardized unit effectiveness and degraded medical readiness. The
threat environment and the unpredictable nature of terrorism make it
necessary to include biological warfare defense as part of our force
protection measures,” Winkenwerder said.
Anthrax is a deadly infection, and the anthrax vaccine is an important
force protection measure to combat it. In the fall of 2001, 22 cases of
anthrax resulted from attacks with anthrax spores through the U.S.
postal system. Five people died in these attacks.
The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly found, and independent
medical experts have confirmed, that anthrax vaccine is safe and
effective.
For more information on the anthrax vaccination program visit
http://www.vaccines.mil/ or
http://www.vaccines.mil/anthrax .
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Second story here...
http://www.defenselink.mil//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1623
Story below:
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DoD Resumes Mandatory Anthrax Vaccinations
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2006 – The Defense Department will resume mandatory
anthrax inoculations for servicemembers and civilians deploying to U.S.
Central Command and Korea, DoD officials said today.
The six-shot series provides immunity from a deadly disease that has
been used as a biological attack agent, said Dr. William Winkenwerder,
assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
A small number of servicemembers assigned to homeland defense units will
also receive the shots.
David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness,
will issue instructions to the services in the next two months. The
program will start soon after.
A court order halted mandatory vaccinations in 2004. In 2005, the order
was lifted, and servicemembers deploying to the area or in special units
could choose to receive the vaccinations or not. Roughly 50 percent of
those deploying did opt for the shots.
“The anthrax vaccine is safe; it is effective for all forms of anthrax
spore exposure,” Winkenwerder said. “Time and again (this vaccine) has
been looked at by experts, … and each time the conclusion is the vaccine
is safe and it is effective.”
The assistant secretary said the anthrax threat is still out there. “Our
adversaries continue to remind us that they are determined to obtain
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons,” he said. “We do not yet know
who perpetrated the attacks of October 2001.” In that incident, letters
filled with anthrax spores killed five, sickened 17 and contaminated the
Hart Senate Office Building so badly it was months before the building
was deemed safe.
It’s important to make the vaccination program mandatory, Winkenwerder
said. “There is a signal sent if a program is voluntary that perhaps it
is just not that important,” he said. “Our actual view is that it is
very important. We believe it should be mandatory, because we want to
protect every person to the maximum degree possible who might be a
target.”
While the program is mandatory for those deploying to threat areas, the
program will be voluntary for servicemembers and civilians who started
their vaccine series but had to stop because of the judge’s order. “If
they wish to continue with their vaccine series, we will make it
available,” Winkenwerder said.
Research continues on the anthrax vaccine. The assistant secretary said
DoD is looking at studies conducted with the Centers for Disease Control
that may allow the department to reduce the number of shots from six to
five or even four. “We don’t have FDA concurrence or approval for that
yet,” he said.
There is no shortage of the vaccine, Winkenwerder said.
---------------
Third story here...
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061016/dcm073.html?.v=2
Story below:
---------------
Press Release
Source: National Vaccine Information Center
Vaccine Safety Advocates Oppose Pentagon's Return to Mandatory Anthrax
Vaccination of U.S. Military Personnel
Monday October 16
National Vaccine Information Center Provides
Military-Biodefense Vaccine Information
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Health Affairs William Winkenwerder, M.D. reportedly will announce later
today that U.S. soldiers will once again be forced under threat of court
martial to be injected with anthrax vaccine without their voluntary,
informed consent. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is
warning that one-size-fits- all mandatory vaccination policies are
dangerous for those with genetic and other biological risk factors,
making them vulnerable to brain and immune system dysfunction following
anthrax vaccination. Today, NVIC is launching the Military and
Biodefense Vaccine Project (MBVP) with a website (
http://www.military
-biodefensevaccines.org
) dedicated to providing the public with information on the research,
development, regulation, policymaking, legislation and government
promotion of military and biodefense vaccines that may be mandated for
mass use in both military and civilian populations.
"America's military service members deserve to be fully informed about
the deaths, chronic illness and disabilities that many soldiers have
experienced following anthrax vaccination," said MBVP medical director
Meryl Nass, M.D. "The FDA-approved anthrax vaccine package insert
acknowledges only six deaths and two dozen autoimmune diseases
associated with the vaccine, but the FDA has not directed the
manufacturer to update the insert in nearly five years. More than 1200
anthrax vaccine-injured soldiers have been treated at the
congressionally mandated Vaccine Healthcare Centers, which DOD has
attempted to close. They are suffering with crippling, life-altering
illnesses that are being swept under the rug. We know the anthrax
vaccine is reactive and we suspect it is especially risky for those with
hereditary and other risk factors that DOD refuses to investigate or
acknowledge."
Since the 1991 Gulf War, healthy young soldiers have reported severe
deterioration in health following anthrax vaccination, including chronic
joint and muscle pain, weakness, gastrointestinal disorders, disabling
fatigue, loss of memory and ability to concentrate, severe headaches,
respiratory and heart problems, and autoimmune disorders that leave them
unable to work or live a normal life. Some U.S. soldiers risked court
martial rather than submit to anthrax vaccination, or re-vaccination
after reactions occurred.
The Pentagon's mandatory anthrax vaccine program was halted in October
2004 when Washington, D.C. federal Judge Emmet Sullivan cited the FDA
for failing to follow FDA licensing regulations. He issued a permanent
injunction directing DOD to stop giving the experimental anthrax vaccine
to military personnel without their voluntary, informed consent. In
December 2005, the FDA issued a new Final Order declaring the vaccine
safe and effective, but failed to provide evidence the vaccine was
effective against inhalation (weaponized) anthrax, and failed to address
published research studies and 5,000 adverse events reports received by
FDA demonstrating that anthrax vaccine is causing serious health
problems. The National Vaccine Information Center filed an amicus brief
in support of soldiers seeking to stop DOD from forcing anthrax
vaccinations without informed consent.
"The National Vaccine Information Center has worked for 25 years to
institute informed consent protections in America's mass vaccination
system," said NVIC co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher. "The
right to informed consent to medical risk taking, which involves risk of
injury or death, is a human right whether an American citizen is a
soldier or a civilian. The DOD has a moral duty to fully disclose
anthrax vaccine risks, as well as benefits, to soldiers and allow them
to make an informed, voluntary vaccination decision. The launch of the
Military and Biodefense Vaccine Project, which expands our website
information, will provide necessary information for informed vaccine
decision making."
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a non-profit,
educational organization founded in 1982 and dedicated to preventing
vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defending the
informed consent ethic. NVIC has warned that vaccine injury liability
protection given to pharmaceutical companies, and lack of informed
consent provisions in Project BioShield, as well as other state and
federal disease control legislation enacted since September 11, 2001,
endanger civil liberties. For more information, go to
http://www.nvic.org
---------------
Larry Scott
