All Rights Reserved. It's doubtful Defense Secretary William Cohen ever anticipated all the problems that might arise from his decision to inoculate all service members against anthrax poisoning. The move was well-intentioned. But lingering concerns about the safety of the anthrax vaccine, coupled now with questions about the financial well-being of the vaccine's sole manufacturer, continue to threaten the program. BioPort Corp., the Lansing, Mich., company that makes the vaccine, is five months behind in production and out of money.
More research is needed to understand the long-term risks of using the anthrax vaccine.
And now, long after initiating the vaccination program, the Pentagon is finally planning such a long-term study of the vaccine's health effects. Ordering everyone to take the vaccine with no knowledge of long-term effects is going too far. But service members are bright, inquisitive people, and they deserve to be treated as such. But in the absence of empiricle evidence proving the vaccine's long-term safety, the troops should be given the chance to decline. Give them the information they need to make wise, informed decisions for themselves.