By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON -- Anthrax vaccinations start this week for service members
deploying to Southwest Asia and Korea, and shots for those already in Korea will begin in
early September, DoD officials announced Aug. 14. DoD's announcement marks the beginning
of a three-phase vaccination program for all 2.4 million active duty and reserve component
service members. About 48,000 service members already in Southwest Asia have been
receiving shots through an accelerated immunization program. Rear Adm. Michael Cowan
called anthrax "the poor man's atomic bomb" and said the vaccination takes that
weapon out of an aggressor's arsenal. Cowan is deputy director for medical readiness at
the Joint Staff. Anthrax is a livestock disease the Iraqis are known to have refined into
a biological agent. Exposure is nearly always fatal to the unprotected. Defense Secretary
William S. Cohen ordered a total-force anthrax vaccination program in December 1997. In
March, he ordered U.S. personnel in Southwest Asia to receive shots following a U.N.
confrontation with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein over weapons inspections, the ejection of
U.S. inspectors and threats to U.S. and allied personnel in the area. Phase 1 of the
vaccination program calls for an estimated 200,000 service members going to high-threat
areas, such as Southwest Asia and Korea, to receive vaccinations over the next two fiscal
years. Phase 2, starting in fiscal 2000, is for personnel in early deploying units to
high-threat areas, officials said. About 300,000 personnel per year will receive
the vaccine through fiscal 2003. Phase 3 begins in fiscal 2003 and covers the remainder of
the force and recruits. Dr. Sue Bailey, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs,
said the anthrax vaccine, in use since 1971, is safe, licensed by the Food and Drug
Administration and effective against all known anthrax strains. For total immunity,
service members must receive six shots over an 18-month period followed by an annual
booster shot. However, tests show service members will receive a degree of protection
after only two inoculations. Bailey said seven adverse reactions which may be directly
related to the vaccine have been reported out of the 133,870 shots administered so far.
Six cases were minor. The seventh involves a service member who contracted Guillain-Barre
Syndrome shortly after receiving his third anthrax inoculation. According to the National
Institutes of Health, Guillain-Barre Syndrome is a rare inflammatory disorder that affects
the nervous system. It is occasionally triggered by such unrelated events as pregnancy,
surgery, and vaccinations. The service member was doing well one month after the onset of
his illness, officials said. The anthrax vaccination is mandatory -- all 16 service
members who have refused shots to date have received nonjudicial punishment. "We
consider service members getting the shot in the same way we tell them to wear their
helmets," Cowan said. "[Anthrax] is a lethal weapon we need to protect [service
members] against, and we have the means to do so," Bailey said. Cowan and Bailey said
DoD is looking at vaccinations against other possible biological agents. Bailey said DoD
knows of 10 nations doing chemical/biological weapon research. "Our overarching
policy is, if we recognize a threat, and a safe vaccine exists to combat it, then we
should use it," Cowan said.