- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
Pentagon said on Wednesday it will immediately resume compulsory anthrax
vaccinations for U.S. troops after a judge lifted an order barring them
without individual service members' consent.
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- U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, granting a request
by the Bush administration, issued a stay of his Dec. 22 order until a
trial could be held on a suit filed by six unidentified troops and civilian
workers for the Department of Defense who challenged the policy.
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- Sullivan's ruling came eight days after the Food and
Drug Administration declared the vaccine safe and effective against the
form of anthrax in which airborne bacterial spores are inhaled into the
lungs -- the most likely way U.S. troops would face the disease on a battlefield.
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- In a two-page order, the judge called the timing of the
FDA's action so soon after his earlier ruling "arguably highly suspicious."
Plaintiffs' lawyers accused the FDA of acting hastily due to political
pressure from the Pentagon.
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- Sullivan said that, regardless of the timing, the FDA's
action addressed his earlier concern that the agency had never categorized
the vaccine as safe and effective against inhalation anthrax.
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- The federal judge left in place a prohibition on the
Pentagon requiring the six plaintiffs to get the shots.
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- In a memo to department leaders, Pentagon official David
Chu said that the vaccination program "complies with all legal requirements,
and there is now no judicial restraint" on giving the shots.
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- "Therefore, you should immediately resume the anthrax
vaccination program," Chu said.
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- PUNISHED FOR REFUSAL
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- Worried about possible dangerous side effects, hundreds
of U.S. service members have refused the vaccinations since the program
began in 1998. Many have faced punishment, including being thrown out of
the military.
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- Sullivan, in his Dec. 22 ruling, accepted the plaintiffs'
contention that the vaccine was experimental and employed by the Pentagon
for an unapproved use: protecting against inhalation anthrax as well as
less-hazardous exposure through the skin.
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- The judge wrote at the time that without informed consent
or a presidential order, the Pentagon could not require that troops "serve
as guinea pigs for experimental drugs."
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- But the FDA on Dec. 30 endorsed the vaccine as protection
against inhaled anthrax, after 18 years of inaction on the matter. That
action prompted the Justice Department to file a motion asking the court
to lift the ban on the mandatory vaccines. They had been halted following
the Dec. 22 order.
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- Mark Zaid, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, expressed disappointment
in the judge's decision but said he did not plan to appeal.
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- "We will be exploring the extent to which the Defense
Department put undue pressure on the FDA," Zaid said.
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- The plaintiffs filed an amended lawsuit shortly before
midnight on Tuesday, calling the FDA's action "so arbitrary and capricious
as to amount to bad faith."
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- Zaid said the FDA ruling only served to confirm the vaccine
had previously been used illegally by the Pentagon and that any troops
or civilian contractors disciplined for refusing the shots had been unjustly
punished.
-
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- The plaintiffs also notified the judge they may seek
class-action status, which could allow more than 2.5 million active-duty,
National Guard and Reserve troops and contractors to join the case.
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- Defense officials have said about 1 million troops have
been given the shots since the vaccination program began.
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