Pentagon limits anthrax vaccinations

[Guest guest]

<A

HREF= " http://web.sunherald.com/content/biloxi/2001/06/13/local_news/4302815_0613\

2001.htm " >Click here: Sun Herald (Biloxi) | Local News</A>

Pentagon limits anthrax vaccinations

By RENI WINTER

THE SUN HERALD

The Defense Department has limited its anthrax vaccination program for the

third time, a move that comes less than a month after a military jury

convicted Air Force Capt. Buck of disobeying an order to take the

vaccine. Now, only special forces and researchers will be required to take

the vaccine, which was originally planned for all troops. Under the new

criteria, Buck, an emergency room physician at Keesler Air Force Base, would

not have been ordered to take the vaccine for deployment to the Middle East.

" They're now going to rely on the very thing I offered to do in the

beginning, which is to take antibiotics, " Buck said Tuesday after hearing of

the latest reduction. " And I offered to do that at my own expense. "

About 13,000 U.S. service members are now deployed to Southwest Asia, an area

defense officials say is at high risk for biological warfare using anthrax.

Defense officials said they have enough antibiotics on hand to treat the

troops if they are attacked with biological weapons containing anthrax.

There are three antibiotics that the Food and Drug Administration

" specifically acknowledges are effective against anthrax - penicillin,

doxycycline and ciprofloxacin, " according to Lt. Col. Grabenstein,

deputy director of clinical operations at the Department of the Army's Office

of the Surgeon General.

The degree of effectiveness of the antibiotics depends on how much time

elapses between exposure to the deadly microorganism and the administration

of the antibiotics, Grabenstein said. " Within 24 hours, they are more than 90

percent effective, " he said. " The more time that elapses, the less effective

the antibiotics are. If symptoms develop, antibiotics are only 20 percent

effective, and there is an 80 percent mortality rate. "

Effectiveness also depends on the dose of antibiotics and the amount of

anthrax a person is exposed to, as well as other factors such as a person's

immune system and overall health. BioPort, in Lansing, Mich., is the only

anthrax vaccine manufacturing plant in the United States. The company stopped

production at about the same time the Defense Department announced its intent

to vaccinate all military personnel.

The military proceeded with the vaccination program, even though the FDA had

issued a closing warning to BioPort for numerous violations. BioPort has not

produced the vaccine since before the program started, and defense officials

don't expect the FDA to approve the company's newly renovated anthrax

production building until March 2002.

" We have not yet been able to re-establish the supply of certified, safe and

effective vaccine to continue the program on schedule, " said Marine Maj. Gen.

Randall West, special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense for

chemical and biological protection.

Buck and thousands of other opponents of the anthrax vaccination program

believe it should be stopped completely until the vaccine is thoroughly

tested and the production plant is approved by the FDA.

Reni Winter can be reached at 228-896-0538 or at rbwinter@...

Related story:  <A

HREF= " http://web.sunherald.com/content/biloxi/2001/06/13/opinion/4263451_0613200\

1.htm " >Reader rebuts Sun Herald position on anthrax, B-3</A>