Vaccines in the News

War Declared Over Anthrax Vaccine

A federal judge has issued an injunction that prohibits the Pentagon from continuing to force anthrax vaccination on military personnel without their consent. More than 900,000 servicemen and women have received the anthrax vaccine, but 500 active-duty service personnel have refused the vaccine, and nearly 200 have been court-martialed. An additional 500 pilots and flight crew members have quit, resigned or transferred from the Air National Guard or Reserves rather than take the vaccine because of fears of severe illness and adverse effects following vaccination.

The vaccine has been approved for prevention of anthrax contracted through the skin, but not for inhaled anthrax according to district judge Emmet Sullivan. He agreed with the plaintiffs’ class action lawsuit attorneys that the vaccine is being “used for an unapproved purpose.” He said, “The United States cannot demand that members of the armed forces also serve as guinea pigs for experimental drugs.”

The Pentagon fired back with its own salvo. The US top military officer Air Force Gen. Richard Myers (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) disagreed with the judge’s ruling. Myers declared the anthrax vaccine is not experimental, and it is essential to protect our troops.

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. jumped into the fray, requesting that the Defense Department begin an immediate review of disciplinary actions taken against service members who refused the vaccine.

President Bush could still have the final say. Although medical researchers must obtain informed consent before giving anyone an investigational or unapproved drug, the president may waive this requirement if he determines that obtaining consent is not in the interests of national security. 

Flu Panic and Profits

The media-generated fear of this year’s flu has sent a panicky public scrambling for flu shots. No one cares that the vaccine does not work, does not contain this year’s dreaded virus, and causes significant adverse reactions. People want their flu shot, and manufacturers have run out of supply. That shortage has created a supply and demand environment for inflated prices and illegal price gouging. A vial of vaccine that cost $40 to $80 in October is now selling for up to $215 dollars. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the sales manager for CT International, which is selling vaccine vials for $215, justified these prices because the market is willing to pay. Missouri’s attorney general has promised not to allow illegal price gouging, quoting an anti-gouging law that prevents extraordinary profits from extreme, temporary conditions. Expect other states to follow suit. Just another example of outrageously high drug prices foisted on a public unaware of other, safer alternatives.

On average 38,000 people in the US die each year from influenza. Deaths occur primarily in the elderly. Every year newspapers predict a terrible flu season. Drug ads appear on television for useless concoctions with fancy names like Theraflu. Learned scientific articles appear in the media characterizing the offending virus as a mass murderer probably able to surpass all those other foreign viruses (Spanish, Asian, and Hong Kong) in deadly combat with our immune systems. This year it is a mutant strain of the Panama virus first identified by Chinese scientists in the Fujian province in 2002. The San Francisco Chronicle informed us this week that researchers have found flu viruses in humans from three bird flu strains, which portends another global influenza pandemic similar to the Spanish  flu of 1918 or the Hong Kong flu of 1968. Such speculation sells newspapers, and flu vaccines.

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