Michael Fumento in his National Review article Opt-Out Military writes about how a Federal judge recently ruled that military members can refuse anthrax vaccinations (known by its initials as AVA). The ruling comes despite the real threat our military faces of terrorists using anthrax as a weapon against our troops, and the relatively low risk of side effects from the vaccination. The anthrax vaccination was first approved by the FDA in 1970 and has been used for vaccinating over a million military members to date.

As the NAS [National Academy of Sciences] indicated, no vaccine is risk-free. Nevertheless, in government statistics on all self-reported adverse reactions to all U.S.-licensed vaccines, out of 27 vaccines tracked in 2001 only six had a lower percentage of adverse events than AVA. One vaccine (combined diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) had an adverse-report rate 35 times that of AVA. Interestingly, the 2001 AVA rate was merely a sixth that of 1999. Why? Because 1999 was the height of the anthrax-vaccine hysteria.

The driving force behind the suit to allow service members to opt out of anthrax vaccinations is the hype about the supposed Gulf War Syndrome (GWS). Anthrax vaccinations are one of the supposed causes for GWS. Fumento includes this interesting fact to show that GWS is a myth.

In fact, extensive epidemiological studies have shown that Gulf vets are just as healthy as matched vets who didn’t deploy and healthier than matched civilians. They are somewhat less likely to have died than non-deployed vets and are dying at less than half the rate of the general population. This is not only the case here, but in the U.K. as well. There is no GWS.

Our staff Gulf War Veteran here at MJ did not get an anthrax vaccination prior to deploying in 1990 since he was sent to Diego Garcia and not to Saudi Arabia. But he did get the malaria and hepatitis vaccinations. He does tell us that those vaccinations worked quite well for him as he got neither malaria nor hepatitis, even after eating at a Chi-Chi’s about five years ago.

We are pleased to know that he is healthier than comparable civilians and he is dying at half the rate of the general population. There are benefits of war time service.