Pentagon low-balled number of soldiers with anthrax vaccine side effects
Pentagon official told Congress that only about 100 soldiers suffered ill side effects from anthrax vaccine given to them between 1998 and 2000; the real number is 20,000
The Bush administration launched a secret eavesdropping campaign of U.S. citizens without court warrants — and now this: The Pentagon never told Congress about more than 20,000 hospitalizations involving troops who had taken the anthrax vaccine despite repeated promises that such cases would be publicly disclosed. The records show that several generals and Defense Department officials told Congress and the public that fewer than 100 people were hospitalized or became seriously ill after receiving the shot from 1998 through 2000. These witnesses also showed Congress written policies that required public reports to be filed for hospitalizations, serious illnesses, and cases where someone missed twenty-four hours or more of duty - but it now appears that only a tiny fraction of those cases were reported, while the rest were withheld from Congress and the public.
Critics of the vaccine, veterans’ advocates, and congressional staffers say the Pentagon’s deliberate low-balling of hospitalizations helped persuade Congress and the public that the vaccine was safe. Keeping the actual number of illnesses secret contributed to a shorter list of government-recognized side effects for the drug, giving patients and physicians a false idea of what might constitute a vaccine-related illness or problem. Doctors should know the full list of side effects and alert federal drug safety officials whenever they see a repeat of those symptoms.
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