LETTER TO THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL

By Kathryn D. Hubbell
President, Anthrax Vaccine Network, Inc.
Missoula, Montana

It is our understanding, as of this morning, that CDC intends to survey our troops in the Armed Forces, to determine what the attitudes are about the military's mandatory anthrax vaccine. We would like to advise you that such a survey will not give you verifiable, solid results.

Troops on active duty are not allowed to talk about the vaccine, or are punished if they do speak about it negatively; if they refuse the vaccine - on file with the FDA for the past 13 years as an Investigational New Drug - they are fined, court-martialed, and drummed out of the service with a less-than-honorable discharge; and if they are having adverse reactions and fly for a living, they are loathe to report them for fear of having their flying privileges taken away.

You need to be realistic about this. You are asking people to report their distrust of military physicians who refuse to believe there are adverse reactions to the vaccine and/or don't know what to look for because they've never been told; to report on their distrust and discouragement with their commanders, who don't seem to put the welfare of the troops first; to report on adverse reactions they have which they have not yet gone public with; or to talk about friends who are extremely ill and have not gone public.

You won't get straight answers out of active-duty troops, because they can't afford the consequences. And, in fact, each sick troop who writes to us is guaranteed confidentiality for that reason. But it's usually not for long; they undergo a medical board review and are dismissed from the service with little to no VA benefits too often, and what they do get they have to fight for.

Here at the Anthrax Vaccine Network, we are compiling a data base of lot numbers, symptoms and dates of the shots as troops and vets join our organization and tell us their stories. We're doing it because the DOD - and you folks - never have, and we're hoping our compiled information will form the basis of the work that should have been done all along.

Reactions to the vaccine [that we know of] may start with a bit of swelling at the injection site, but no, they don't necessarily get over it in a few days; this is a vaccine whose reactions can actually get worse over time instead of better. Symptoms range from that swelling to severe migraines and cluster migraines; severe and chronic fatigue; severe bone and joint pain; in several men, the body stops producing testosterone entirely; women's hormone problems result in severe hemorrhaging and wild cycle fluctuations; I have yet to hear a woman vet tell me she has been able to conceive a child since receiving the vaccine - they try, and cannot; we have several brain lesions [cases] in our group, several with seizures, and there are those with blood clots, thyroid failures and blood pressure spikes.

The list is quite extensive beyond this, and happens to include death as an adverse reaction. This vaccine hits the immune system, and hits it hard; there are definitely patterns of many of these illnesses and reactions, and we are checking to see if our suspicions are correct, that certain lot numbers of the vaccine cause certain responses.

You cannot possibly believe that the DOD, which inoculated our troops with an experimental vaccine WITHOUT informed consent, and knowing full well the manufacturing problems that BioPort had been cited for numerous times, now wants to look at the results of such incredible corruption and greed which resulted in this travesty. You cannot possibly believe that active-duty troops are going to tell you the truth, when they will only be punished for it. You cannot possibly believe that any troop was ever asked if it was O.K. to harvest his or her blood for experimental purposes - to find a new treatment for anthrax.

I have never in my life come against such a purely corrupt program as this. If you want to know why troops and civilians don't want the anthrax vaccine, then take the shots yourselves - we suggest lots 020 and 030 for starters. We can almost guarantee you'll at last understand what our troops have been going through all these years. And once people you know and love become permanently ill and incapacitated; and once you lose someone you work with or love because this vaccine has finally caused their death - maybe you'll finally take all of this much more seriously.

If you want guinea pigs, use yourselves. Our fine men and women in uniform have suffered for years, and have suffered enough. After risking their lives in defense of their country, they now must defend themselves against their own government. It is as if the Nuremberg trials never happened.

Be realistic. Your survey will get you nowhere - unless that is what you want. These troops not only can't afford to tell the truth, but they certainly aren't going to speak freely to an arm of the same government which has already betrayed them. Please look at the truth.

Sincerely,
Kathryn D. Hubbell
President, Anthrax Vaccine Network, Inc.
Missoula, Montana

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