http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/18/health/18ANTH.html

 

January 18, 2002

INOCULATION

Pentagon Bars Pregnant Women From Taking Anthrax Vaccine

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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ASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (AP) — The Pentagon may start asking women in the military to take pregnancy tests before getting anthrax shots because a study suggests vaccinations have resulted in some having babies with birth defects.

Officials are worried that some of the study's data may be faulty and have ordered a review, Lt. Mike Kafka of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery said today.

But because the review could take months, the Defense Department's top health official is asking each military service to develop a plan in two weeks to assure that pregnant women in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines do not get the immunizations in the meantime.

That official, Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, asked the services to devise a way to enhance the screening of women of childbearing age, "potentially including pregnancy testing," to prevent pregnant women from getting the vaccine.

The Pentagon in 1998 ordered the vaccination of all 2.4 million members of the active and reserve military to protect them against anthrax bacteria that, when inhaled, can cause death in a few days. It started with those deployed to Korea and the Middle East.

A shortage of doses last year forced a cut so only troops on "special missions," which officials declined to identify, were vaccinated.

Throughout the program, health care workers were supposed to be asking women if they were pregnant to avoid vaccinating those who were expecting. It is unclear whether pregnant women who got the shots were not asked or did not know they were pregnant at the time.

The study also seemed to indicate that some women might have been vaccinated after their first trimester, by which time they would probably have known they were pregnant. This prompted officials to question the data.

Under the program, more than 525,000 service members have received one or more shots. The six- shot regime is given over 18 months, followed by a booster each year.

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.