U.S. to begin voluntary anthrax shots for troops

The Pentagon said on Tuesday it was resuming giving Anthrax vaccinations to troops on a voluntary basis under terms set by a federal judge who last fall ordered a halt to mandatory shots.

The vaccinations primarily will be limited to military units designated for homeland bioterrorism defense and to troops deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon said it will inform troops about the vaccine’s benefits and side effects before they are asked to decide about whether to get the vaccination. Anthrax spores can be used in germ warfare to give victims the deadly bacterial disease.

The Defense Department has given the shots to 1.3 million troops since 1998, calling the inoculations an important “force protection” measure in an era when potential enemies may be armed with biological weapons.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan on Oct. 27 forbade the Pentagon from giving the anthrax shots to military personnel, stating the Food and Drug Administration had acted improperly when it allowed the experimental shots for general use.

But on April 6 Sullivan granted the Bush administration’s request to modify his previous injunction to allow for voluntary inoculations under a 2004 law bolstering the government’s ability to protect against bioterrorism.

William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in a statement the resumption of the shots on a voluntary basis “is a significant step that allows the department to resume this vital protection measure for military personnel, who are at increased risk of exposure to an anthrax attack.”

Sullivan’s actions have come in a lawsuit filed by six unnamed military personnel and civilian workers who objected to the vaccinations. A relatively small number of U.S. troops have refused to get the Pentagon’s mandatory anthrax and smallpox shots due to worries about side effects, and some have been thrown out of the military.

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