The turmoil felt by Pennington and Pulsifer has percolated for weeks throughout not just the 164th, but some other National Guard and reserve units across the nation. Despite assurances from authorities that the vaccines are safe and effective, some critics insist they're neither. So far, nearly 350,000 service personnel, along with Defense Secretary William Cohen, have at least begun the six-shot vaccination process. The program calls for the inoculation of all servicemen and women by 2005. The inoculations were ordered amid evidence that Iraq and other potential adversaries had developed biological weapons that deliver anthrax spores to a battlefield.
Anthrax is an infectious bacterial disease that typically afflicts livestock.
While it is very treatable in people when they contract it through skin absorption or ingestion, the disease usually kills those who are infected by inhaling spores. It has been used for years among veterinarians, livestock handlers, laboratory workers and others. An independent civilian advisory panel reviewing vaccines declared in 1985 that there was sufficient evidence that anthrax inoculations generally were safe and effective. Testifying before a Congressional committee in July, Maj. Gen. Robert G. Claypool, a deputy assistant Defense Secretary for health affairs, said adverse reactions to the vaccine have been no more frequent than those from vaccines widely used among civilians.