The anthrax dilemma -- no inoculation in sight

[Guest guest]

The Doctor Is . . . Irrelevant

By M. Arkin

Special to washingtonpost.com

Monday , May 22, 2000

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I think it was Jay Leno who once quipped that nine out of 10 doctors agree

that one out of 10 doctors is an idiot.

So when the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health all agree that the anthrax

vaccine is safe and effective, why should anyone listen to a bunch of

vaccination opponents who cite a mere handful of adverse reactions and

proffer evidence from quack witnesses?

The answer is because those opponents are an intelligent group led by

articulate reserve and National Guard officers. The Pentagon might decry

Internet disinformation and outside agitation. But the anthrax controversy

continues to bubble not because of anti-military activism, the Internet or

even partisan politics. It is a symptom of a sick institution, where the

pugnacious and irrelevant inoculation program is surrogate to

insubordination directed against the military and civilian leadership.

One out of 10 doctors is an idiot, but the other nine are merely tools in a

bigger battle.

Illusive Victory

Last week, anti-anthrax vaccination forces were on the verge of declaring

victory in their battle against the 1997 directive from Secretary of Defense

S. Cohen that all 2.4 million members of the armed forces receive

vaccines to protect them against anthrax biological weapons.

Opponents were cheered by congressional support in this year's defense

budget review, as well as extensive language in the House defense

authorizations calling for better record-keeping, studies and research.

Thirty-four members of the House, moreover, sent a letter to Secretary Cohen

calling for an " immediate halt " to the mandatory vaccination program.

The Defense Department sent an unusually firm response to the congressional

letter. Though it repeats the blah, blah, blah about the imperative to

vaccinate, it point by point refutes the main arguments of the opponents,

stating that 1.7 million shots have been given to 440,000 people with only

0.00008 percent loss of duty and 0.00001 percent in hospitalization (six

determined to be adverse reactions to anthrax).

It is a slam dunk, and an uncompromising commitment in the face of

continuing controversy. The vaccine, one has to conclude, is as safe as any

other vaccine. As the always cranky Fumento, of the Hudson

Institute, writes in American Outlook, opposition based on infinitesimal

risk " is all the more bizarre when it concerns people who volunteered to

risk death in the defense of their country. "

A Bogus Threat and a Tissue Paper Solution

So what's going on here? No amount of " fact " is going to dissuade those who

are passionately opposed to the Pentagon's anthrax agenda. Opponents are

honestly unconvinced of the safety of the vaccine and are motivated by

honorable intentions. They believe that irresponsible officials at the top

of the Defense Department are doing harm to individuals, as well as

undermining good order and discipline.

Andy Bacevich, professor at Boston University and a retired Army colonel and

Gulf War vet, has studied the anthrax vaccination program and its opponents.

" We are either having the wool pulled over our eyes with regard to the

threat of biological warfare and terrorism, " he says, " or our response is

inadequate. "

Bacevich says that if the threat is what the Pentagon and administration

says it is, then we are not doing enough. For instance, he cites inoculation

of the military but not " first responders " such as police and firefighters.

Moreover, he says, the Defense Department itself acknowledges that anthrax

is only one of a variety of potential biological agents, and that there may

be newer bioengineered strains that could circumvent protection.

" There is a false sense of security that in itself becomes a danger, "

Bacevich adds. Terrorists and opposing forces know that anthrax is the only

bacteria that we are countering. " Wouldn't any adversary choose another

agent? " he asks.

Bacevich concludes that the program is pointless in a practical sense, while

the controversy feeds off of and reinforces a growing distrust of the senior

leadership, military and civilian. " There is evidence of declining trust and

confidence, " he says. To him, the cause for concern is for the very health

of American military professionalism.

The New Chain of Command

Last week, an Air Force staff sergeant stationed in Korea sent an e-mail to

the main anthrax opposition Web site, thanking them for their courage and

providing his personal story of swelling, stiffness and pain as a result of

two rounds of anthrax inoculations.

No doubt his adverse reaction is tragic for him and his family, but what is

far more interesting is the new chain of command.

" I would like to join in the fight against the vaccine, " he writes in a

letter to his congressional representative, " so feel free to use my name at

any time. " And feel free they did. With the click of a mouse, the e-mail was

forwarded hither and yon to reporters and columnists.

Here's what I find fascinating: The sergeant trusts and finds common cause

with officers he's never met rather than with his own superiors.

Writing in the May issue of the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings, reserve

Marine Corps Col. Mark Cancian says that " once someone indicates that they

will only obey the orders they regard as justified, reasonable and, safe . .

.. it is a slippery slope until all orders are second-guessed. " Calling such

behavior mutiny, he says, may be politically incorrect, but nevertheless,

that is what the behavior is, " and it cannot be tolerated. "

Colonel, the slippery slop started before the biological warfare obsession.

Orders are second-guessed.

Orders, but not policies. The Defense Department is as adamant as ever that

it is doing the right thing. Meanwhile a climate of contempt for military

leadership is allowed to fester inside the armed forces, no inoculation in

sight.

Contact M. Arkin at william_arkin@...

<mailto:william_arkin@...>.

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