DOD to start immunizations against anthrax
Released: Dec 16, 1997
WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- A systematic vaccination of all U.S. military personnel against the biological warfare agent anthrax will start next summer.
The Department of Defense announced the program Dec. 15, capping a three-year study. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen concluded the vaccination is the safest way to protect highly mobile U.S. military forces against a potential threat that is 99 percent lethal to unprotected people.
Anthrax vaccine will initially be administered to about 100,000 military people assigned or deployed to the high-threat areas of Southwest Asia and Northeast Asia. Within the next several years it will be given to all active-duty people and reservists.
"This is a force-protection issue," Cohen said. "To be effective, medical force protection must be comprehensive, well documented and consistent. I have instructed the military to put such a program in place."
Vaccinations would start only after several conditions are met:
-- Supplemental testing, consistent with Food and Drug Administration standards, to assure sterility, safety, potency and purity of the vaccine.
-- Implementation of a system for fully tracking people who receive the anthrax vaccinations.
-- Approval of appropriate operational plans to administer the immunizations and communications plans to inform military people of the overall program.
-- Review of health and medical issues of the program by an independent expert.
"Our goal is to vaccinate everybody in the force so they will be ready to deploy anywhere, anytime," explained Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, who will monitor implementation of the program. "This is an important new dimension to overall force protection. The anthrax vaccination will join other immunizations we already give everyone in the military."
The anthrax vaccine is FDA-licensed and exhibits fewer side effects than flu or typhoid vaccines. It has been widely used in the United States since the early 1970s by livestock workers and veterinarians. The military now immunizes people working in at-risk jobs, some 3,000 persons assigned to special operations units, the Army Technical Escort Unit and the Marine Chemical-Biological Initial Response Force.
Anthrax is a disease that normally afflicts animals, especially cattle and sheep. Anthrax spores can be produced in a dry form that can be incorporated into weapons. When inhaled by humans, these particles cause severe pneumonia and death within a week. At least 10 countries have or are suspected of developing a biological warfare capability.
DOD will immediately begin consultations with Congress and other federal government agencies and will brief military people. Vaccinations for the first group of people who serve in or would deploy early to the high-threat areas are planned to begin in mid-1998. Details of the schedule for the total force vaccinations will be determined as the program moves forward.
Defense officials have reviewed an implementation program with the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the last year. The immunization program follows the recommendation of Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The immunization program will consist of a series of six inoculations per service member over an 18-month period, followed by an annual booster. Although protection levels increase as shots in the series are given; the entire six-shot series is required for full protection.
Consistent with the force health protection program announced Nov. 8 by President Clinton, the anthrax vaccination plan will serve as a prototype for long-term force protection. The secretary of the Army is the executive agent for the effort, including procurement of the vaccine, tracking and oversight of the vaccination program, and coordinating with other service secretaries on the execution of the program.
Because of the mobility of military people, Cohen said he must be satisfied there is a medical management system in place to track individuals through the series before the immunizations begin. The secretary of the Army will serve as the focal point for the submission of information from the services.
DOD addressed the threat of anthrax and other biological and chemical weapons when it released the report, "Proliferation: Threat and Response," in late November.
Even though the plan has been reviewed extensively in the Pentagon, Cohen directed that it be independently assessed before implementation by Dr. Gerald N. Burrow of Yale University, who serves as special advisor to the Yale president for health affairs.
"We owe it to our people to move ahead with this immunization plan," Cohen said. "But we also want to make sure that our overall immunization program is safe and effective."
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