Anthrax may not be detected in time to don protective gear before exposure. The benefits of being vaccinated aren't worth the risks. There are bad side effects from the anthrax vaccine. Like all vaccines, the anthrax vaccine may cause soreness, redness, itching, swelling, and lumps at the injection site. About 30 percent of men report these minor local reactions, but they usually last only a short while.
Lumps can persist a few weeks, but eventually disappear.
Such minor injection-site reactions occur about twice as often among women. For both genders, between one and five percent report local reactions of 1 to 5 inches in diameter. Reactions wider than 5 inches occur in less than one percent. Beyond the injection site, up to 35 percent experience muscle or joint aches, chills, fever, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite, malaise or related symptoms. Again, these symptoms usually go away after a few days.