Taking the sting out of the anthrax vaccine.

Taking the sting out of the anthrax vaccine Staff Sergeant Michael Murphy, of the Boone, Iowa, National Guard Reserve, is ready to do his duty when it comes time for members of his unit to get the next of six shots given over an 18-month period for anthrax vaccination. Although he is not entirely happy about it, he told the JCI, " I really don't have another choice other than get out, and I'm not prepared to do that. " He said he simply hopes he doesn't have another adverse reaction. Soon after his third shot, Murphy suffered leg cramps caused by blood clots. " We can't really pinpoint the real reason I came down with this, " he noted, " other than it's just a coincidence that I happened to get the shots and then came down with this. But I think the military, or whoever is building this vaccination, should follow up a little more with the people who had issues with it — to see if it did in fact have a reason for it, or was a problem at all, or why it happened. " While Murphy remains equivocal about the relationship between his health issues and the anthrax vaccine that is currently mandatory for military personnel considered to be at risk for biological weapons offensives, others, such as retired US Air Force Reserve pilot Lieutenant Colonel Jay Lacklen, who was stationed at Dover, Delaware, are adamant that the vaccine is to blame for myriad problems, primarily autoimmune responses that resulted in symptoms of extreme vertigo, intense muscle and joint pain, or mental impairments and ailments. Lacklen said that the occurrence of one of " those three [types of symptoms] almost immediately after the series of shots started at Dover caused 40% of our reserve pilots to leave the unit rather than take the shot. " A great deal of controversy has surrounded the use of the anthrax vaccine, including speculation as to whether it is the cause of Gulf War syndrome. There have been numerous accusations and investigations, and while the vaccine is still approved for mandatory military use, the uproar regarding its overall safety continues (see http://www.milvacs.org and http://www.anthrax.osd.mil for more information). The vaccine at the center of this storm uses a cell-free filtrate — a mix of dead bacteria as opposed to live bacteria — to stimulate the appropriate immune response. Only BioPort …