European edition, Tuesday, February 18, 2003

 

Mark Oliva / S&S Marine Lance Cpl. Dave Ticas, with 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, shows his smallpox blister, just above his Marine Corps tattoo. The blister is a sign that the inoculation took effect and Ticas's body is building immunity against smallpox exposure. Mark Oliva / S&S Doses of anthrax vaccine are lined up ready to be shot into the arms of Marines and sailors on the USS Tarawa. Marines are required to have three shots to build up enough immunity to protect against exposure. Six shots, followed up by annual boosters, provide complete immunity.

ABOARD USS TARAWA — They came by the thousands. Sleeves rolled up past their shoulders, tiny white blisters poking up from upper arms. The half-inch pustules were telltale signs that the smallpox inoculations had taken effect.

Immunity against deadly toxins was building up in their bodies. It was also a signal that fears of adverse reactions to drugs designed to counter chemical and biological attacks were far-less pronounced over the past few weeks than they were several years ago when some servicemembers opted to face court-marital rather than be vaccinated.

“I have all my shots, both anthrax and smallpox,” said Marine Staff Sgt. Steven Draper, assigned to 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. “I heard a couple of wild stories on TV, but I wasn’t worried.”

Draper, a Marine for 12 years, paused, and then recounted his first anthrax shot. He admitted there were some initial concerns about how his body would react.

“After the first shot, I was at ease,” he said. “There were no bad reactions.”

Still, he said fear of exposure to agents was the driving factor for him to line up for the vaccinations, not fears of punishment for disobeying orders.

“I got them because of the threat of the weapons,” Draper explained. “I’d rather have a reaction to the shot than a reaction to the agent. The shot might make me sick, but the agent could kill me.”

Draper had his first smallpox vaccination as a child. Standing in line, shirt sleeve rolled up to reveal a blister, he said he was never worried about reacting to the inoculation, three small pinpricks into the skin of his left shoulder. He endured the typical reactions: minor swelling, itching and a blister he couldn’t touch or wash until the scab finally fell off. Touching the open sore left after the inoculation could transfer the live cowpox vaccine to open cuts or the eyes, nose, mouth or even the genitals.

“It was just uncomfortable, that’s all,” Draper said. “You just have to deal with it. If it works, then it was worth it.”

Still, Draper said there is the outside possibility that the vaccines might not be effective. He knows there is a possibility that Iraq is stockpiling strains of the agents that are more potent than those used to immunize him.

And there is no vaccine against nerve agents. Iraq is believed to have stores of VX and Sarin gas, agents that kill within hours of exposure. Draper picked up a package of injectors — atropine — that he will have to shoot into his leg if he becomes exposed to the deadly nerve gasses.

“I hope they work,” Draper said. “Hopefully, they will protect us. I’d still get the shots now if I didn’t have them before. I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

Critics warn that anthrax vaccines can have long-lasting effects, attacking the lymph nodes. The exact causes of Gulf War syndrome — former military members report suffering loss of hair, exhaustion and even suppressed immune responses — are still unknown.

But that doesn’t worry Sgt. Cereius Greene, a Marine of nine years. He’s gotten all six anthrax and the smallpox shots. Although he doesn’t have children, he said the risk of passing any lingering effects or suffering symptoms later in life is a trade-off to the immediate threat of exposure.

“I had no concerns when I got the shots,” Greene explained. “I thought it was something that had to be done. If there are effects, it’s just something I have to deal with. Right now, I have to worry about the job at hand.”

That job in front of Greene and the rest of the Marines in the 15th MEU is to be ready to square off against an Iraqi force armed with what U.S. intelligence says is tons of the deadly toxins. But it’s also a threat that has already become a reality within the United States. Anthrax spores sent through the mail contaminated offices in the Hart Senate Office Building and killed postal workers in Washington, D.C.