Anthrax Vaccine "controversy"

[aargh57]

Hello,

I was wondering if there was anyone out there that may be "in the know" about the Anthrax Vaccine that military and DOD employees and contracters were required to be given until a recent ruling.
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/10/28judgesorderhalt.html
This is of particular interest to me as I'm employed aboard a military contracted vessel and have gotten the first 3 vaccines in the series. Some of the crew were particularly worried because of articles talking about the dangers of the vaccines.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/19/eveningnews/main559426.shtml
http://www.rense.com/general4/anths.htm
However most of these articles are a little old. I did a google search to find anything recent and didn't come up with much except some rather cooky (IMHO) conspiracy theory stuff.
http://www.thepowerhour.com/articles/anthrax.htm
Anyway, does anyone have any inside scoop on whether this stuff is potentially dangerous or has it been blown out of proportion and will the court order be merely temporary as the DOD says?
http://www.dod.mil/news/Nov2004/n11022004_2004110202.html


(BTW, I'm starting to get the hang of this posting and linking stuff. Hee Hee.)

[Hellbound]

Check the CDC website..for example this page here. (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/anthrax/vaccination/index.asp)

Some quotes from a few of those links:

"Are there adverse reactions to the anthrax vaccine?
Mild local reactions occur in 30% of recipients and consist of slight tenderness and redness at the injection site. Severe local reactions are infrequent and consist of extensive swelling of the forearm in addition to the local reaction. Systemic reactions occur in fewer than 0.2% of recipients."

That's about 2 in 1000...a pretty high number for systemic reactions. Considering, however, the risks associated with an extended stay in a third world area (such as Iraq), I'd say it's worht the risk, though.

"For persons not at risk for repeated exposures to aerosolized B. anthracis spores through their occupation, pre-exposure vaccination with anthrax vaccine is not recommended. For the general population, prevention of morbidity and mortality associated with anthrax will depend on public vigilance, early detection and diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and PEP. "

Basically, high-risk people should get it, others it isn't worth the risk. Military gets it because, if there is an attack, they don't have time for a few hundred thousand troops to be out of action right afterwards for post-exposure vaccination.

This one is actually iffy (unlike the hoopla over smallpox). It's still blown out of proportion, but there are risks associated with it. I've had the full series myself, and been responsible for giving it to a rather large group. We had about 600 in our Battalion, and no one had a severe reaction to it.

There are other resources out there. Look primarily within government sites (my reccomendation), like the nih and cdc. They tend to collate all the data into a single location. The NIH should have some documentation about the specific breakdown of the severe reactions (to date, I do not have knowledge of any deaths or disability caused by the vaccine). You might have to do some looking though.

My opinion: don't worry about it. The chances of something going wrong are pretty small, and even then most effects are extremely treatable, curable, or temporary. Here (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/anthrax.html) is another list of links from the NIH.

[Rolfe]

I believe there was some dodgy stuff going on about a year ago. Apparently military personnel were being told that of course it was safe to have an anthrax vaccine, after all, all vets got the vaccine routinely and they weren't worried.

Of course this isn't true. Vets are not routinely vaccinated against anthrax, and when my partner tried to find someone who was so vaccinated, he failed.

Charitably, it could have been a misunderstanding. Uncharitably, someone was trying to scam military personnel into acccepting the vaccine without fully explaining the risks.

Rolfe.

[aargh57]

The vet vaccination thing was something that we were also told and we later found to be false. I think this actually created resistance to taking the vaccine.
I also had seen the CDC's site and quote about the 0.2% systemic reactions but some of the articles that I read claimed a much higher reaction. I guess the controversy on our ship held the argument that a lot of money was involved in terms of the company producing the vaccine and that certain military higher ups were trying to push it through without proper testing. I know that may seem a little far fetched but the government has been known to do things like that.
Huntsman, it is of some comfort to hear that your group of 600 produced no serious side effects. It seems to me that that's a pretty large sample size.

[Dr. Imago]

Originally posted by Rolfe
Charitably, it could have been a misunderstanding. Uncharitably, someone was trying to scam military personnel into acccepting the vaccine without fully explaining the risks.

Well, this is the interesting thing, Rolfe. In the military, you aren't really given a choice and you don't have the opportunity to give your informed consent. It's an interesting loophole that otherwise normally competent and consenting people are often "ordered" to do particular things, which vaccination definitely falls into this category. In other words, you can't say "no" even if you are informed of the risks and want to opt out. The military has its rationale for this. I don't necessarily agree with it, though.

-TT

[burgerjockey]

Look, *tick* I have taken all 6 *tick* shots in the series and I am perfectly fine. As a matter of fact, *tick* I feel better than ever ;)

Seriously though, I have been vaccinated and I am perfectly fine. Everyone in my squadron has been vaccinated and was perfectly fine. Now that I think about it, just about everyone I know in the military(we deploy a lot at my base) was vaccinated and I have never heard of any adverse reactions. I am not saying that it can't happen or that it hasn't, but it seems like a very remote chance. They try to weed out the people that are likely to have reactions to the stuff(same with the smallpox vaccine). I am pretty sure the worst you will get is a sore arm and maybe flu symptoms for a couple of days.