I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 514
To prohibit the Department of Defense from requiring members of the Armed 
Forces to receive the anthrax and smallpox immunizations without their 
consent, to correct the records of servicemembers previously punished 
for refusing to take these vaccines, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 2, 2005
Mr. SHAYS (for himself and Mr. TOWNS) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the 
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To prohibit the Department of Defense from requiring mem-
bers of the Armed Forces to receive the anthrax and 
smallpox immunizations without their consent, to correct 
the records of servicemembers previously punished for 
refusing to take these vaccines, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as ‘‘Armed Forces Voluntary 
Immunization and Health Justice Act of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. CONSENT OF SERVICEMEMBER REQUIRED FOR 
SMALLPOX AND ANTHRAX IMMUNIZATIONS. 
(a) SMALLPOX VACCINE IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM.—
A member of the Armed Forces may not be required to 
participate in the smallpox vaccine immunization program 
of the Department of Defense. A smallpox immunization 
vaccination may not be administered to any such member 
without the informed consent of the member. 
(b) ANTHRAX VACCINE IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM.—
A member of the Armed Forces may not be required to 
participate in the anthrax vaccine immunization program 
of the Department of Defense. An anthrax immunization 
vaccination may not be administered to any such member 
without the informed consent of the member. 
SEC. 3. CORRECTION OF RECORDS OF SERVICEMEMBERS 
PREVIOUSLY PUNISHED FOR REFUSAL TO 
TAKE SMALLPOX OR ANTHRAX VACCINE. 
(a) CORRECTION.—In the case of a member or 
former member of the Armed Forces who before the date 
of the enactment of this Act was subject to any form of 
adverse personnel action as a result of the refusal of the 
member or former member (while a member of the Armed 
Forces) to take a vaccine covered by section 2, the Sec-
retary concerned, acting through the appropriate board for 
the correction of military records under chapter 79 of title 
10, United States Code, shall, upon application, take such
actions as may be necessary to correct the military records 
of the member or former member so as to obviate any 
adverse consequences of the member or former member’s 
refusal to take such a vaccine. 
(b) TIME FOR APPLICATION.—Any period established 
by law or regulation for the submission of an application 
for correction of a military record shall be treated, for pur-
poses of an application to make a correction by reason 
of subsection (a), as running from the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(c) EXPEDITING
CONSIDERATION
OF
APPLICA-
TIONS.—The Secretary of each military department shall 
take such actions as may be necessary to expedite consid-
eration of applications for correction of military records 
under subsection (a). 
(d) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—In this section, the 
term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ has the meaning given that 
term in section 101 of title 10, United States Code. 
(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—(1) The Secretary of Defense 
shall submit to the congressional committees specified in 
paragraph (2) an annual report on activities under this 
section. Each such report shall identify the number of ap-
plications received for correction of military records under 
this section, the basis for decisions taken on those applica-
tions, and the types of actions taken with respect to those 
applications. 
(2) The congressional committees referred to in para-
graph (1) are the following: 
(A) The Committee on Government Reform, the 
Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 
on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa-
tives. 
(B) The Committee on Governmental Affairs, 
the Committee on Armed Services, and the Com-
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate. 
SEC. 4. ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT THREAT OF ANTHRAX 
AND SMALLPOX ATTACKS. 
(a) REEVALUATION REQUIRED.—The Secretary of 
Defense shall include in the report to Congress specified 
in subsection (b) an assessment of the current threat of 
an anthrax attack or a smallpox attack on members of 
the Armed Forces. The assessment shall be prepared in 
consultation with the head of each element of the intel-
ligence community (as defined in section 3(4) of the Na-
tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a(4))). 
(b) ANNUAL CHEM-BIO REPORT.—The report re-
ferred to in subsection (a) is the next annual report sub-
mitted to Congress after the date of the enactment of this 
Act under section 1703 of the National Defense Author-
ization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (50 U.S.C. 1523), relat-
ing to chemical and biological warfare defense. 
SEC. 5. RESEARCH FUNCTIONS OF THE SECRETARY OF 
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— 
(1) carry out an ongoing assessment of the ad-
verse health effects being reported by members and 
former members of the Armed Forces with respect 
to the smallpox and anthrax vaccines administered 
by the Department of Defense; 
(2) carry out a research program to determine 
causal relationships (if any) between such effects 
and those vaccines; and 
(3) prepare an estimate of the future cost to 
the Department of Veterans Affairs to treat those 
adverse health effects, if determined to be service- 
connected. 
SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL CENTER FOR MILI-
TARY DEPLOYMENT HEALTH RESEARCH. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish 
a National Center for Military Deployment Health Re-
search to coordinate and synthesize research efforts by 
Federal departments and agencies relating to the health 
effects of military deployments on members of the Armed 
Forces, including members of the reserve components.
(b) CRITERIA.—To the maximum extent practicable, 
the center shall be established in a manner consistent with 
the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine of the 
National Academy of Sciences in a report dated January 
1, 1999, titled ‘‘National Center for Military Deployment 
Health Research’’. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The center shall be estab-
lished not later than 120 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
Æ