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Only
a fool would refuse vaccination
By RALPH MOYED
10/25/2001
This may come as a
shock to Sonnie Bates, but when my kidney went on the blink I called a
doctor, not a jet pilot.
Sonnie Bates will be
remembered as the officer at Dover Air Force Base who was fortunate enough
to be given an honorable discharge after refusing an order to be vaccinated
for anthrax.
He still insists --
even as people die from inhaling anthrax apparently sent through the mail
by bioterrorists -- that the vaccine is dangerous. He said he intends to
continue his fight to prevent it from being administered.
God save us!
Yet Sonnie seemed
surprised that an anonymous critic would say he is "disgusting."
The critic's real violation of good taste was in not stating his name. When
I say something nasty about any individual my name is properly affixed.
What's more, I would
not have chosen the word "disgusting" to characterize Sonnie
Bates. What he is is depressing, stubborn, a bit foolish, full of
unaccountable hubris, and a loose cannon. He took a stand against anthrax
vaccination that cost him his military career, and he won't give an inch
after the anthrax attacks.
I have always wondered
if an enlisted man who did the same thing, who disobeyed an order, would be
allowed to leave the service with an honorable discharge.
Sonnie Bates decided
the vaccine was unsafe after several men in his own unit came down with a
variety of illnesses after being vaccinated. Scientists and intelligent
laymen call that anecdotal evidence and disregard it, as a wise man would
dismiss a rumor.
Conspiracy theory
Bates could offer no
scientific evidence that the illnesses his associates suffered had anything
to do with the anthrax vaccination. The vaccine has been given the nod by
the Defense Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
the Food and Drug Administration, the latter subject to a cleanup of a
section of the manufacturer's plant.
So how does Sonnie
Bates explain the federal agencies' approval of the vaccine? I'm not sure.
The best I can figure is that it is some kind of conspiracy, that all those
agencies are in the pocket of the vaccine's manufacturer.
After President John
F. Kennedy's assassination and lies about Vietnam and Watergate, many
Americans are willing to believe the wildest conspiracy theories. So I fear
that foolish Americans will swallow Sonnie Bates' line.
The sad truth is that
there are plenty of fools in America.
The greatest danger
lies not in Sonnie Bates' unsubstantiated claims. He is dangerous because
he is pushing a lawsuit that would have a court declare the vaccine is
experimental. In the unlikely event that a judge ever granted Sonnie Bates'
motion, the vaccine would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.
We have some
off-the-wall judges on the federal bench, but I doubt that an order
blocking the use of the vaccine would stand up on appeal. And the president
could circumvent such a judgment under emergency powers.
Still, I could not
guarantee Sonnie Bates' safety if the terrorists widened their anthrax
attacks.
What I would do is
consider the possible side effects of the vaccine and the possible
consequences of not being vaccinated. Only a fool would refuse the vaccine.
What it will take to
bring Sonnie Bates down to earth, or more precisely, off the limb on which
he finds himself, I cannot say.
I think the best
course of action would be to tell Sonnie Bates that he is absolutely right,
which I'm sure he wants to hear. Then go out and get vaccinated.
Send e-mail to rmoyed@AOLcom.
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