Refusing the Anthrax Vaccine

(CBS) On Wednesday, a panel of scientist said the controversial anthrax vaccine is safe and effective, but also says research needs to be done to improve it. But a group made up of military families and military personnel who have retired in protest of the military's mandatory vaccine policy says the panel's findings are not only reliable, they're suspect.

The National Organization of Americans Battling Unnecessary Service Member Endangerment or NO ABUSE, says the panel's claim that the vaccine protects against all forms of anthrax, including inhalation anthrax, is based on a grain of scientific sand. Retired Lt. Col. Redmond Handy, president of NO ABUSE told Up To The Minute that the panel's claim it "should" protect against inhalation anthrax is questionable and ignores FDA and CDC discoveries of squalene and pregnancy problems in those who received the vaccine.

Last year's anthrax-by-mail attacks focused more attention on the vaccine that has been criticized by military members, like Handy, who resigned rather than take it because of concerns about side effects. Handy says if the number of Americans who got the Swine flu shot got the Anthrax vaccination, "We'd have 600 dead Americans, 3,000 if all the eligible citizens took the shot."

But the study by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine concluded the anthrax vaccine has no more serious side affects than any other vaccines given adults. Yet it also acknowledged there is only limited information about possible long-term effects of the vaccine and it's manufactured using older technology and should be updated and improved.


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