Fwd: Canada: Threat low, no anthrax vaccine for our troops!

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From: Meryl Nass <mnass@...>

Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 19:59:56 -0500

Subject: Canada: Threat low, no anthrax vaccine for our troops!

No anthrax vaccine for Afghanistan troops: DND

By DENE MOORE

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2007/03/05/3699886-cp.html

MONTREAL (CP) - Canadian military officials say they're not

considering a mandatory anthrax vaccination campaign even though the

U.S. military has made the controversial inoculation mandatory for

its soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

As of April 30, all U.S. soldiers heading to Afghanistan will have to

be immunized against anthrax.

The U.S. Department of Defence has announced that all branches of its

military will have to inoculate service members heading to high

threat areas, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the Korean Peninsula.

But Gloria , spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces health services

group, said Monday that the Department of National Defence is not

considering the same.

" At this point in time, we are not requiring our people to have

anthrax vaccinations nor are we considering it, " said from Ottawa.

Both the Canadian and U.S. militaries ceased mandatory anthrax

immunizations after questions arose about the safety and efficacy of

the vaccine.

The U.S. army continued to offer a voluntary vaccination but only

about half of U.S. soldiers signed on.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has since declared the anthrax

vaccine safe and effective, opening the door to the mandatory program

south of the border.

" The anthrax vaccine will protect our troops from another threat - a

disease that will kill, caused by a bacteria that already has been

used as a weapon in America, and that terrorists openly discuss, " Dr.

Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defence for health

affairs, said in a U.S. defence department statement announcing the

program.

" The threat environment and the unpredictable nature of terrorism

make it necessary to include biological warfare defence as part of

our force protection measures. "

In little more than six weeks, all U.S. soldiers heading to

Afghanistan will have to be immunized against anthrax, a bacterial

infection that commonly occurs in domesticated animals.

Anthrax has not been used in combat but five people died and 17 were

sickened when anthrax spores were sent through the U.S. mail in the

wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Dr. Ron Wojtyk, of Canadian Forces health services, said the threat

of anthrax exposure in Afghanistan is not sufficient enough to make

the vaccine mandatory.

Wojtyk said the U.S. is deployed in areas where the threat is more

pressing, such as Iraq.

" If we deploy to an area where there is a threat of anthrax or

possible release on a bioterrorist type of scenario, then there would

be an order for anthrax and it would be mandatory, " Wojtyk said Monday.

Canada has about 2,500 troops in southern Afghanistan as part of

NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

During the 1991 Gulf War western troops were immunized against anthrax.

The Canadian military received special permission from Health Canada

to use the vaccine developed for the U.S. Department of Defence,

although it was not approved for use by the general public.

Despite concerns about the manufacturer and possible adverse side

effects, in the spring of 1998, on the heels of a similar directive

within the U.S. military, the Canadian Forces made the anthrax

immunization mandatory for troops serving in Kuwait.

Many soldiers refused the inoculation, citing concerns of a link with

so-called Gulf War syndrome.

Canada later discontinued the vaccination.

The U.S. Department of Defence, at the behest of a U.S. district

court, discontinued in October 2004.

Meryl Nass, MD

Mount Desert Island Hospital

Bar Harbor, Maine 04609

207 288-5081 ext. 220