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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/18/national/18VACC.html

Anthrax Shots for Military to Be Limited to High Risks

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASHINGTON, May 17 (AP) — The Pentagon wants to abandon its policy of anthrax vaccinations for all troops and limit shots to those with the highest risk, officials said today.

The program to vaccinate all 2.4 million members of the active and reserve military was started in 1998, but it was radically reduced after safety and other violations by the nation's sole anthrax vaccine manufacturer left the Pentagon with a dwindling supply. In addition, some soldiers were highly reluctant to take the shots.

In January, the Food and Drug Administration allowed the manufacturer, the BioPort Corporation of Lansing, Mich., to produce the vaccine and release 500,000 doses already made.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved a plan last month to set aside the policy of vaccinating the whole force, according to officials who have seen it.

The current plan is to vaccinate only those at risk — and for safety reasons not disclose who they are, officials said. The thinking is that would-be attackers would not know which troops had been protected.

As for civilians, health officials have said there is no need for them to have the anthrax vaccine unless there is an attack.

The Homeland Security Office is trying to determine how much vaccine may be needed for the police, firefighters, rescue squads and others who would be "first responders" to any attack in the United States.

The Pentagon shared vaccine with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last fall, when 5 people died from anthrax-laced letters and 13 were sickened.

Postal and Senate employees received protective antibiotics in case they had been exposed to the letters. After 60 days of that, medical experts offered them choices of continuing antibiotics, adding vaccinations or ending treatment.

Believing that Iraq and other nations had produced anthrax weapons, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen in 1997 ordered the immunization of the armed forces.

Shots started in 1998 for soldiers at the highest risk — in the Persian Gulf, then South Korea — and then moved beyond. As the drug shortage developed, the program was scaled back.

For two years, the vaccine has been reserved for troops on special missions and for researchers.

Some military personnel say the vaccine causes health problems, and hundreds have been removed from the armed forces after refusing orders to take it. The government insists the vaccine is safe.

Since 1998, 2.1 million doses have been given to 525,000 people.

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