From Reuters Health, 1/12/01
Military MD May Be Court-Martialed Over Anthrax Vaccine
By Suzanne Rostler
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A US Air Force emergency room physician, Captain John Buck, could face court-martial for disobeying an order to receive an anthrax vaccine. A hearing to determine whether or not to proceed with the court-martial was concluded on Thursday.
Buck will know his fate within 4 weeks, Belinda Bazinet, a spokesperson for Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, where Buck is stationed, told Reuters Health.
While he would be the first physician to face court-martial over the issue, Buck is one of hundreds of other military personnel who have refused the mandatory vaccination for anthrax, a potentially fatal disease caused by a bacterium that occurs most commonly in cattle and sheep. The bacteria can be spread to humans by contact with infected animals, but the greatest risk is from biological warfare, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In 1998, the US Department of Defense said it would inoculate 2.4 million armed services personnel under the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program.
Some people, including those on a US Congressional committee, argue that there is not enough evidence to conclude that the vaccine is safe.
``The real issue is, do you achieve military objectives by compromising the practice of medicine, which is based on science, trust and patient's rights? I believe the program violates all three,'' Buck told Reuters Health.
He said that when he first learned that troops had refused the vaccine, he assumed that they were ``radical'' or ``against the military.'' Now, he believes there is not enough evidence to mandate the vaccine and that by objecting he hopes to protect the rights of enlisted men and women.
``I don't think it's fair to be subjected without informed consent, without choice,'' he said.
Immunization of military personnel in other countries, including the UK, France and Canada, is optional.
But according to the US military, the issue is one of integrity.
``When you are in the military, you cannot pick and choose which orders to obey,'' Bazinet said. ``The heart of the military is discipline and following orders.''
Buck's legal counsel, Captain Jeff Brown, would not comment on his client's case.
Recent government hearings into the vaccine's safety ended unresolved. While the US Food and Drug Administration assured US Congress that the anthrax vaccine is safe, members of the House Committee on Government Reform remained unconvinced.
Last year, the committee called the program ``a well-intentioned but overwrought response to the threat of anthrax as a biological weapon.'' The report recommended suspending the current program, accelerating research into a new vaccine, and studying personnel who have already been vaccinated.
The last confirmed case of human anthrax reported in the US was reported in 1992, according to the CDC.