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Archives | (June 2001)
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The Anthrax Vaccine: Making Our Soldiers Guinea Pigs Part Two
------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 1 of 6 The debate over the anthrax vaccine has taken on an even greater importance as tens of thousands of America’s military men and women go into harm’s way. It is a testament to the strength of our democracy that they are willing to put their lives at risk to protect freedom for the rest of us. We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. But we owe them something else as well – the assurance that the risks they face will be justified. Their lives are too precious to be squandered through arrogance, intransigence, corruption or bureaucratic inertia. The trouble is, the forced administration of the anthrax vaccine may be a product of all of these factors. If so, it will constitute a monumental breach of faith with those who serve so bravely in uniform. IS THE VACCINE SAFE?At the heart of the issue is the debate over whether the anthrax vaccine, or AVA, is safe and effective. Despite the growing criticism, the Department of Defense continues to insist that the anthrax vaccine is safe. DOD officials responsible for the Anthrax Vaccination Implementation Program point to recent reports by the National Institutes of Medicine’s Institute of Medicine (IOM) to back up their claim. Yet, these documents are far from the ringing endorsement the DOD officials would have the public believe. Indeed, the first IOM report, issued on March 30, 2000 concluded that: “… in the peer-reviewed literature, there is inadequate/insufficient evidence to determine whether an association does or does not exist between anthrax vaccination and long-term adverse human outcomes.” In another section the same report said: “There is a paucity of published peer-reviewed literature on the safety of the anthrax vaccine.” The IOM further noted that much of the research on the anthrax vaccine was conducted on animals. The report stated flatly that: “Few meaningful conclusions regarding adverse effects in humans can be drawn from animal studies of the vaccine…” |
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