Bacon said the military will save some 12,000 doses a month by temporarily discontinuing the program in South Korea, where the United States has helped maintain an armistice with North Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean conflict. He also asserted once again that the program is safe. A relatively small, but vocal, number of military members have refused to take the vaccine, saying they fear potentially damaging side effects. We continue to believe that that anthrax vaccine is the best protection against a biological threat that is 99 percent lethal. And we will continue our program at the current level in the Gulf, and then ramp it up as soon as we can.
Anthrax is a naturally occurring virus.
Dry anthrax spores, when inhaled, can be deadly to humans.