But figures supplied to Congress recently show the local guard unit was close to 90 percent out of compliance for one shot of the series alone. Walter Burns, commander of the Air National Guard's 103rd Fighter Wing in Windsor Locks, said the guard is giving personnel the shots close enough to the schedule to keep them immune from biological attack. Practically speaking, he said, it is difficult to schedule shots to the very day they are due for guardsmen who are not always readily available. And Burns insisted that any differences in figures released by his unit and by the National Guard Bureau in Washington amount to a simple misunderstanding or reporting delays, not attempts to deceive.
Some federal officials are concerned about delays in administering the shots on schedule.
She did not say how much later would be a concern. Zoon said in testimony before Congress last month. A source within the Connecticut Air National Guard said there is a question about how combat ready the unit can be when many pilots have set their own schedules to take the shots or have avoided them entirely by dropping off flight status. Problems with the anthrax vaccination program began soon after Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced plans to inoculate all 2.4 million troops last year. Hundreds of military personnel have refused to take the shots, prompting discipline or dismissal, while scores of pilots and others in the reserve and National Guard units have quit.