May 30, 2002
DoD likely will
not inoculate all service members for anthrax
By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer
The Defense
Department is unlikely to resume its effort to seek anthrax vaccinations
for all 2.4 million service members because a large stockpile must be
maintained for the civilian population, a senior Pentagon official said
Thursday, May 30.
“This is no longer just a military personnel problem, this is a
national problem,” David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel
and readiness, said at a breakfast meeting of defense reporters.
Details of the Pentagon’s plans are still being discussed. But “we
will set aside a major part of what vaccine is available to ensure that
we can protect the civil population,” Chu said.
For that reason, there will likely be little change from the current
policy for anthrax vaccine, in which only those with the greatest risk
receive the six shots.
In 1998, the Pentagon began an ambitious program to inoculate every
active-duty and reserve service member against the deadly disease, which
can be used as a bio-warfare weapon.
However, the military ended up nearly depleting the nation’s anthrax
vaccine stockpile after the sole manufacturer was unable to get its
revamped production facility cleared by the Food and Drug
Administration.
The plant has since been approved, but the nation experienced a major
vaccine shortage when anthrax-tainted letters were mailed to members of
Congress and the news media late last year.
“My anticipation, in terms of who in the military is vaccinated, is
that we will continue with what is the implicit policy,” Chu said.
With a limited amount of vaccine available, the Pentagon is using a
“risk-based” policy based on a member’s assigned duties and location.
For example, vaccines go to laboratory workers who might handle
anthrax-tainted materials as well as to special operations troops who
might be deployed to regions where anthrax could be used as a weapon,
Chu said.
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