Not sure if this one was posted here.

[Guest guest]

Didn't see this one posted here. (on cnn.com)

February 17, 2000

By Eskenazi

(TIME.com) -- A congressional panel's recommendation

that the military suspend its controversial anthrax vaccination program

appears to leave Defense Secretary Cohen between a rock and a

hard place. After a mounting chorus of complaints from soldiers, the

House Government Reform national security subcommittee

on Thursday released a report urging that the inoculation of 2.4 million

military personnel be halted until the procedure is further tested.

Almost 400,000 troops have so far been inoculated, with at least 400

complaints of side effects, ranging from dizziness to severe thyroid

problems.

The report leaves Cohen having to decide whether to carry on with the

program or suspend it -- and face the possibility that his department

will be sued by the personnel who have already received their jabs.

While the Pentagon and the FDA maintain that the only side effects

are fever, muscle pains and dizziness -- all of which are supposed to

disappear within a few days -- fears of the vaccine have been

contagious in the ranks. This past weekend a dozen members of the

Indiana Air National Guard were banned from flying after refusing the

shots, which are administered in six injections of low doses of anthrax

over 18 months and boosters every year.

The program was launched in 1997 in response to fears

of biological warfare that began during the Gulf War when the Iraqi army

reportedly tipped missiles with vials of anthrax. But soldiers complain

that the Pentagon rushed into requiring the vaccine. The House committee

investigating the vaccine agrees, saying in its report that " the Defense

Department answers with an excess of faith but a paucity of science. " In

addition, military personnel increasingly resent having the vaccine

injected into their bodies when there seems to be a minimal chance that

they will be deployed to combat one of the 10 nations known to have

biological capabilities. Looks like the administration’s best spin

doctors will have to be brought in to sort out this one.