http://www.bulletinpress.com/myjournal.asp?jnum=6
I didn't get the Anthrax Vaccine while in the Navy but if offered it now I'd probably do it. I'm a vaccine machine. I rarelly get sick even though I'm around sick people all the time so I figure what the hell. If the vaccine is free and has decent statisics backing it up on how safe it is I'll go for it. Since I left the Nav the only thing I've been vaccinated for is Hep B but then I've already had pnemonia and chicken pox and I've been vacinated for the rest of the standard stuff. Even though it's probably out of date now I was even vacinated for small pox just before they stopped doing that in the US.23 December 2003
by Anai Rhoads
Veriana Media
The Department of Defense (DoD) plans to inoculate 2.4 million active duty personnel against Anthrax. The estimated cost is $130 million for the immunisations against the potentially dangerous bacterial disease. The once believed "preventative" therapy called for six injections of the dead bacteria over a period of 18 months, followed by annual booster shots.[1] So far an estimated 900,000 have been subjected to
an illegal, yet mandatory, anthrax Inoculation enforced by the DoD.
United States District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Monday that the anthrax inoculation violated a 1998 law that forbids experimental drugs to be imposed without either the person's consent or signature by the Chief in Command. This ruling is especially important to the active duty
military who refused the vaccine.
For filing against the Pentagon over the mandatory anthrax inoculations, an Air Force officer received a sixty day base restriction and was fined the sum of $21,000. Another officer who filed along was pushed out of a fourteen year long military career.[2]
According to Public Health[3], the Anthrax vaccine was never proven to be safe. Vaccinees reported symptoms of dizziness, laboured breathing, muscle aches, fatigue and ongoing headaches which also resembled a host of Gulf War illnesses (Gulf War Syndrome). Without adequate
evaluation, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved changes to the BioCorp's vaccine composition several times since 1990.
Despite confirming possible harm to unborn babies, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) offered the vaccine to children and pregnant women. A 1996 U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) study revealed that out of thirty-five women given the vaccine only seven reportedly gave birth to healthy babies.
Bioport Corporation of Lansing, Michigan, formerly known as the Michigan Biologic Products Institute, received a lucrative $29 million contract from the Pentagon to produce the vaccine.
Despite the fact that French soldiers during the Gulf War were not given the anthrax vaccine and do not exhibit any symptoms of GWS, many still debate whether or not the vaccine is truly to blame for syndrome.
IIRC the Ruskies have been giving their entire population a antrhax vaccine for a long time without too many problems
Anthrax in a cutaneous form infects the skin and ulcerates. If ingested, it attacks the digestive system causing excessive vomiting and pain. Anthrax is most dangerous when it enters the respiratory system. An enemy may use it as a biological weapon, spreading itin powder form to be inhaled by the intended target.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA),
there is no significant data connecting the vaccine with prevention of
Anthrax's effects on the respiratory system. Experts state that the vaccine could never keep up with other biological agents, genetically engineered germs or anthrax permutations. Experts on germ warfare have little confidence in vaccines as a defence overall.
©2003 Veriana Media. Reproduction must be authorised in writing only, and altering the material and this copyright is prohibited and protected by international law. Please contact Veriana Media for reprint and licencing
permission.
References:
[1] Hearing on DoD's Mandatory Anthrax Vaccine Immunisation Programme
[2] Mandatory anthrax vaccine for troops challenged in court - Washington Times
[3] The Anthrax Vaccine Program: An Analysis of the CDC's Recommendations for Vaccine use. Nass Am J Public Health.2002; 92: 715-721.
Want to have a little fun.? Get vaccinated for typhoid and then have a buddy punch you in the arm you were vacinated in. If you don't have a buddy available you can always do push-ups, in the end it actually helps....well the push-ups do. The buddy punches hurt like hell.
Still, the fact that the French didn't give anyone the anthrax vaccine and they don't have any examples of "Gulf War" syndrome is worth notice.