Judge Halts Forced Military Anthrax Shots

[thedrifter]

Dec 22, 4:51 PM EST <br />
<br />
Judge Halts Forced Military Anthrax Shots <br />
<br />
By PAULINE JELINEK <br />
Associated Press Writer <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Saying American soldiers should not be used as &quot;guinea pigs for...

[greensideout]

Didn't we have a poll discussion on this? I think I'll bump it back for review.

[thedrifter]

December 23, 2003 <br />
<br />
Myers defends anthrax vaccinations <br />
<br />
By Pauline Jelinek <br />
Associated Press <br />
<br />
<br />
The Pentagon’s top military officer on Tuesday defended the practice of giving servicemen and...

[Doc Crow]

Bump it again

[thedrifter]

Pentagon says it will stop giving anthrax vaccinations for now <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
By John J. Lumpkin <br />
ASSOCIATED PRESS <br />
7:05 p.m. December 23, 2003 <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon announced Tuesday it...

[Doc Crow]

Still not sure I agree with this ruling but again I am not a God that sits on a Bench.

[thedrifter]

December 27, 2003



"What about (those) people who got kicked out (of the Corps) and had to go to jail?" he said. "Meanwhile, I've got the shot and now they are saying it's an experimental drug.

"What are you going to do now, give everybody their lives back? You already ruined all these people's lives," said Fusco who lives in Santa Clarita with his wife.

The Pentagon this week halted the vaccinations "until the legal situation is clarified."

Defense officials said the vaccine has been deemed safe by medical officials and is important for protecting troops against an anthrax attack.

Steve Robinson, director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, agrees with Fusco.

"The military is going to have to review whether or not they were justified in court-martialing people, fining people or forcing people out," Robinson said.

He believes the anthrax shot has made troops sick since the military first ordered it in 1991. The military later suspended and restarted the program.

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., a longtime opponent of the Pentagon's anthrax policy, this week called for such a review.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeanette Steele: (619) 718-5182; jen.steele@uniontrib.com


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

Justice Department asks judge to clarify ban on military anthrax shots

Washington-AP -- The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to reconsider the ban that has halted mandatory anthrax vaccinations for military personnel.

The judge ruled this week that the program was being used for an "unapproved purpose" -- protection against exposure to airborne anthrax as well as exposure through the skin.

The judge says the Pentagon should not inoculate service members without their consent.

Six plaintiffs sued over the anthrax shots. But the Justice Department has asked the judge to reconsider on the grounds that the suit was not filed on behalf of all military personnel.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs says he is considering seeking class-action status on the suit to ensure the injunction applies to all military service members and contractors.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=1578767


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

Judge lifts injunction that prevented military from requiring anthrax shots


By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, January 8, 2004



WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday lifted the temporary injunction he imposed Dec. 22 that banned the Pentagon from forcing all servicemembers to get the anthrax vaccine.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan’s reversal of his own order paves the way for the Pentagon to resume inoculating troops deployed to high risk areas like Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea.

However, the injunction remains in place for the six anonymous “John Does” who filed the lawsuit in May seeking reprieve from a vaccine they said is unsafe and unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Pentagon officials did not know by press deadline if or when they would resume vaccinating troops. “We’re aware of the ruling. That’s all I can say at this point,” spokesman James Turner said.

Sullivan lifted the injunction because the FDA, the agency licensing the vaccine, issued a formal rule last stating the 1970-approved vaccine is safe, effective and guards against all forms of anthrax.

Two weeks ago, Sullivan ruled he saw no proof in the government’s argument the FDA approved the vaccine to guard against inhalation anthrax, thus making it an investigative drug.

On Wednesday, while siding with the government to lift the ban, Sullivan remarked from the bench he found last week’s FDA rule “highly suspicious,” coming on the heels of his injunction. The vaccine’s safeness and effectiveness has been challenged for years in court, he said, and in spite of countless administrative hearings and battles, he questioned the rule’s timing.

“Only after the issuance of an injunction, up pops a federal rule” supporting the government’s position, a skeptical Sullivan told lawyer Shannen Coffin, a Justice Department attorney representing the Pentagon. “And you’re telling me it’s coincidental.”

“I’d stand on a stack of Bibles and tell you it’s coincidental,” Coffin told Sullivan.

“That’s an amazing coincidence,” Sullivan rebutted.

A few days after Sullivan’s injunction, the Pentagon halted its vaccination program altogether while lawyers fought the battle in court. According to Coffin, the stoppage meant roughly 1,000 troops a day were sent, unvaccinated, to the unspecified high risk countries. “Every day [the injunction is in place] is additional harm,” Coffin argued.

Mark Zaid, representing the six anonymous plaintiffs, told the judge he plans to continue the fight to stop the vaccine program; first arguing against the FDA’s rule that the vaccine is safe, and also that the Pentagon has violated the process by giving vaccines to some troops out of sequence, violating the FDA licensing guidelines. Both sides are to issue next week a proposal to Sullivan outlining the best future action.

The suit that spurred Sullivan’s initial ruling was filed March 18.


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=19714

Sempers,
'
Roger
:marine:

[Phantom Blooper]

Judge clears anthrax shots in the military <br />
January 08,2004 <br />
ERIC STEINKOPFF <br />
DAILY NEWS STAFF <br />
<br />
A federal judge Wednesday reversed his previous decision and cleared the way for the military to...

[snipowsky]

While forward deployed on the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Bosnia in 1995 we were given &quot;mandatory&quot; anthrax vaccinations. One guy in my platoon refused and they sent him packing back to CONUS. ...