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The Pentagon wants to abandon
its policy of anthrax vaccinations for all troops and limit shots to those
with the highest risk.
The program to vaccinate all
2.4 million members of the active and reserve military was started in
1998, but it was radically reduced after safety and other violations by
the nation's sole anthrax vaccine manufacturer left the Pentagon with
a dwindling supply. In addition, some soldiers were highly reluctant to
take the shots.
In January, the Food and Drug
Administration allowed the manufacturer, the BioPort Corporation of Lansing,
Mich., to produce the vaccine and release 500,000 doses already made.
Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld approved a plan last month to set aside the policy of vaccinating
the whole force, according to officials who have seen it.
The current plan is to vaccinate
only those at risk -- and for safety reasons not disclose who they
are, officials said. The thinking is that would-be attackers would not
know which troops had been protected.
As for civilians, health officials
have said there is no need for them to have the anthrax vaccine unless
there is an attack.
The Homeland Security Office
is trying to determine how much vaccine may be needed for the police,
firefighters, rescue squads and others who would be "first responders"
to any attack in the United States.
The Pentagon shared vaccine
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last fall, when 5
people died from anthrax-laced letters and 13 were sickened.
Postal and Senate employees
received protective antibiotics in case they had been exposed to the letters.
After 60 days of that, medical experts offered them choices of continuing
antibiotics, adding vaccinations or ending treatment.
Believing that Iraq and other
nations had produced anthrax weapons, Secretary of Defense William S.
Cohen in 1997 ordered the immunization of the armed forces.
Shots started in 1998 for soldiers
at the highest risk -- in the Persian Gulf, then South Korea -- and then
moved beyond. As the drug shortage developed, the program was scaled back.
For two years, the vaccine
has been reserved for troops on special missions and for researchers.
Some military personnel say
the vaccine causes health problems, and hundreds have been removed from
the armed forces after refusing orders to take it. The government insists
the vaccine is safe.
Since 1998, 2.1 million doses
have been given to 525,000 people.
New
York Times May 18, 2002
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