AVN Letter to the P ostal Union

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Hi, all,

AVN faxed a letter to President of the New York Metro Area

Postal Union two days ago as well, along with our press release from over a

week ago. The letter is as follows:

Dec. 27, 2001

Mr. , President

New York Metro Area Postal Workers Union

350 West 31st St., 5th Floor

New York, NY 10001

Dear Mr. :

Please accept our congratulations for refusing to consider the anthrax

vaccine for your postal

employees. I know you have received numerous phone calls and faxes

supporting your position, and

would like to add the voice of our entire organization to those messages.

You have heard, I believe, from , Tom Rempfer and Russ

Dingle, and they will

have given you a great deal of researched, background information on the

history and legality of the

vaccine program. So I won’t reiterate that information.

I work on an extremely close level, each day, with the troops and

veterans. The Dept. of

Defense may blithely tell you that only 16 or so people have had severe

reactions, but the plain fact is

they have no idea how many - they’ve never done a follow-up study. I have

over 150 troops and vets in

my data base who are extremely ill, and I hear from more each week as they

find out about the Network.

I hear first-hand about the devastation this vaccine has caused in their

lives. Following is a compilation

of some of those letters. At the end, I’m going to quote from an e-mail I

received just this morning.

You don’t want to have postal employees writing to me with stories like

this:

Florida: “I was in Army active duty...in a Rapid Deployment Unit. For

this reason the anthrax shot

was mandatory for us. Now I’m out from the Army with a medical

discharge...my symptoms are the

same as (Tom) Colosimo...extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of

memory, fainting, sometimes

I was just walking and suddenly passed out.â€

New Mexico: “I am a former Marine who was discharged in 1999...I was

forced to take 2 hots in the

series...3 months after receiving the second shot I began to feel very

tired all the time, affecting my

family life and my work. Approximately 9 months after that I began to

have seizures at night. I was

afraid to let my boss or anyone else know... Last Saturday night I had a

seizure at work and my fears

came true....(second letter) Since I last contacted you I have had 5 more

seizures and 3 unexplained

cases of passing out while I was walking. I am hoping to get more help

from the VA but they don’t

seem like they care.â€

Idaho: “My husband has become extremely ill from the vaccine too. He got

three shots in 1998 and

has been sick since...Three years later he still struggles to walk and get

around. He is always in pain

but he tries to keep a good attitude about it. Some days it is hard

because the VA still has not started

to give us benefits...We were given an appointment but it was for 7 months

later...We turned in his

VA stuff one year ago and still nothing.â€

Indiana: “Navy: I was on the USS __________- when I received my Anthrax

vaccinations. After the

first one I experienced severe migraine headaches. The second and third I

took without any

significant health problems, however the fourth caused a slew of problems

for me. I was given the

fourth in the series in late 1999. It began with patches of itchy dry and

flaky, flaky skin on my lower

legs and quickly spread...the itching became so severe I was scratching

myself bloody while I slept.

...The condition has continued to worsen now covering my arms, legs, feet,

hips, hands and

face....Many times the wounds became infected and the infection must be

treated as well. ..I also

suffer from extreme fatigue. Some days it is hard to get out of bed...My

hair falls out in large

quantities and I also now have digestive problems. Yet still, no doctor I

have seen to date knows

what is wrong with me....The only validation I ever received that this was

all probably due to the

Anthrax vaccination was from a dermatologist I saw at Portsmouth Naval

Medical Center. She

informed me that there had been many cases in the months prior to my

appointment of the same type

of condition, and that the only real constant in those cases she has seen

was that they had all

received the Anthrax vaccination - more specifically, she said, the fourth

in the series...I never said

no. I should have. But I was a military member, doing my best to do the

job that I had been trained

to do.â€

Nebraska: “I’m a 25-year-old Ssgt in the USAF. I had a severe reaction

almost two years ago and

still suffer severely from it. I have been in and out of the hospital 10

different times since the shoot.

They have diagnosed me with everything from Crohn’s disease to an

auto-immune disorder. I’m

currently under review for a medical board.â€

California: Air Force - “I had only one shot. I was diagnosed with

Chronic Cholecystitis...I still have a

great deal of pain. My gall bladder was removed. My other symptoms are

fatigue, joint pain, muscle

pain and stiffness, headaches, rashes, sores, memory loss problems

sleeping, difficulty

concentrating, problems with coordination, difficulty reading, loss of

appetite, nausea, diarrhea,

weakness, occasional numbness/tingling, high blood pressure, acid reflux,

dizziness, some

blurred/spotted vision. I still can’t believe how I could go from health

and playing sports, to this. Most

of the time I don’t even have the energy to go out with my friends. Some

days just getting out of bed

is a real chore, and then I still have to face a day of work, and

sometimes I wonder why I am fighting

a medical board.â€

Arizona: Ssgt., Air Force: “I received two shots while I was in

Korea...after my second shot I had a

lot of things go wrong with my system such as swelling in my joints, joint

and muscle pain and

stiffness, and the mysterious lump that appeared in my neck below my ear,

behind my right jawline.

My feet and ankles swelled for three months after the second shot, and

still are to this day. The

bones in my feet and handls feel like I have arthritis. The doctors

nerver formally diagnosed me as

having an adverse reaction to the vaccine. Instead, they shuffled me from

doctor to doctor and

diagnosed my reactions as “possible†or “probable.†Nine months,

eight

doctors, and ten missed duty

days away from work, and my case is still not final... I have no prior

history of any ailments like this

before being vaccinated.â€

Virginia: Navy: “Two years after the 3rd shot in the series, I still have

symptoms of fatigue, low grade

fevers, no immunity defense to common illnesses, and joint pain in the

right hip area. I was not seen

for any medical problems for the 3 years prior to the shots. Now I go all

the time.â€

Illinois: “My husband refused to take the anthrax vaccine last year. He

was kicked out of the USAF.

Our family was in Germany at the time. After months of making our lives

miserable, they sent me

and my 2 babies (both under 2 years old) back to the states with the

promise that my husband would

join use in 2 weeks. After 2 months of hell, my husband arrived back in

the states. Of course, there

is much more to our story.â€

Delaware: “Our son had 14+ years in the Marine Corps. After he receive

the Anthrax vaccine, he

contracted Type 1 Diabetes, at the age of 31. From what we have read, it

is almost unheard of to get

Type 1 at that age, as it is commonly known as juvenile diabetes... he has

to take insulin four times

per day and his pancreas is not producing any insulin at all. Next step -

USMC informs him he is no

longer able to serve and made him an offer of a percentage of disability

pay for five years... his

career has been snatched away from him, and probably because of their

requirement to take the

Anthrax vaccine, his insurability is gone, his health is in jeopardy, his

life expectancy is reduced and

his livelihood is gone, etc. Well, you can see that I am not over being

bitter.â€

Texas: “I have lost almost 40 pounds. I am always nauseated. The arm I

got the vaccinations in

goes numb a lot or tingles a lot. My joints are achey a lot of the time.

I now become easily

disoriented. I get dizzy spells often. My biggest problem though is the

constant fatigue that I am

always experiencing....I’ve tried the VA hospital but they were no help at

all.â€

Oregon: Army: “I had immediate pain at the injection sites after

receiving my anthrax vaccinations.

I also felt very sick on the same days of the injections, very tired and

dizzy. I’m now suffering from

Gulf War Syndrome - thyroid problems, erythema nodosum (nodules under the

skin), aching joints,

stomach problems, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, chronis fatigue,

migraines, menstrual

problems, inability to conceive (only after the Gulf), and finally,

possible MS.

Alabama: “I was given an anthrax shot at Al Eskan, Saudi Arabia. I became

sick the same day. The

next day the most predominant symptom I had was heavy and constant nasal

drainage such that I

had to carry a handkerchief under my nose to catch the drippings. I began

to lose strength and

endurance at that time. Ten days later, after a night of SCUD alerts and

about 3 hours sleep, I began

to shake uncontrollably and was subsequently hospitalized. I am also a

Vietnam veteran and knew

that the shaking was the result of some illness and not fear. I was

medivaced to the US and

subsequently demobilized. I have been sick since I received the shot with

a continued flu-like

symptomology. My clinical diagnoses include thyroid failure and two sleep

disorders. I have applied

to the VA and been repeatedly rejected since 1992.â€

Florida: Air Force: “I had three vaccinations...and have been suffering

from weight loss, fatigue,

muscle and joint pain...and have not been successful in finding a

physician that can diagnose the

problem. I also have a cyst on one kidney.â€

New Hampshire: USMC: “He received two doses of the Anthrax vaccine in

January of 2000. After

the first shot, which he received with a number of other vaccines, he

complained of headaches...

Following his second shot, he was helped out of the infirmary by two of

his close friends. His

headaches increased and he was getting abdominal cramps. His run time

dropped dramatically so

the Marines put him on extra PT. A few days after his second hot, fed up

with being ignored, he tried

to kill himself. He spent the week at a psychiatric hospital, where he

talked to a number of doctors

about his symptoms. The doctors were curious and wanted him to stay for

further testing, but the

Marines refused. They stripped him of 1 rank and he was sent home, fully

discharged, within 3

weeks...Soon after he came home I began to witness episodes where his

abdominal cramps would

become so bad that he would fall doubled over onto the floor...his boss

told me he was starting to

lose concentration, slowing down, and was physically lacking spunk...He

suffered from what we

believe was a heart attack while driving home from work one night.

Later... he would get severe

chest pains, his headaches would intensify and he would pass out...he

drove into a telephone pole.

Somehow by the grace of God he and our 4-year-old son, who was riding in

the back seat, were

spared serious injury.â€

Illinois: Navy: “He was given the Anthrax vaccine in 1997...within two

months, he started having pain

in his right hip and pain in his chest. He was diagnosed with

costochondritis and also possible

bursitis in his hip. Over the past four years he has gradually gotten

worse and worse. He now has

pain in both of his hips and legs and lower back all of the time. He has

“charlie horse†type pains that

make him cry out in pain, he has electrical shock type pains, and it is

hard for him to walk on his feet

because they feel like they are “broken.†Anytime he tries to do any kind

of physical activity with any

part of his body, including even typing on a keyboard of a computer, it

causes him pain in the part of

his body that he uses. He has also had dizzy spells and come close to

passing out on several

occasions....In September of 2000 a cousing of mine who is a clinical

pharmacologist asked him if he

had ever ha an anthrax vaccine... and, indeed, we found out that he did.

He has applied for Social

Security Disability and been denied twice...â€

A ship at sea: “I delivered the information you sent me, to Petty Officer

_____. ...He does indeed

firmly believe that he is suffering from the side effects of the Anthrax

vaccine that was administered

to him. Told me that was when his hair loss began, then later on, the

“run down†feeling that comes

on from time to time... He also described to me the “run around†he got

from the ship’s medical staff,

when he repeatedly asked them, then later told them, whether or not his

ailments could be coming

from the Anthrax vaccine. They would either tell him he was exaggerating,

or didn’t get enough

sleep, or that he just had a cold - or sometimes just act as if they didn’

t hear his questions.â€

Texas: “I am a First Sergeant with an Air Force Reserve Unit...I had

received five anthrax

vaccinations when I discovered problems such as tingling, numbers in

fingers, loss of strength...Went

to a civilian neurologist and all tests were negative except for being

diagnosed with CIDP, Chronic

Inflammatory Demylenating Polyneuropathy. Went to the Air Force and they

ran all sorts of tests that

came back normal. They decided to do a lumbar puncture to see if the

protein level in my spinal fluid

was elevated. They said that if they found it elevated, that it was 80%

conclusive that my neuropathy

was acquired and that it had been introduced into my body by something.

Well, it was elevated.

They have already done one treatment of IV IG and boy did I get sick from

that, with chills and fever,

etc. I am not looking forward to my second treatment this month. They

Air Force is saying that they

will never prove that the Anthrax caused my neuropathy, but they also

stated they will never prove it

did not cause it.â€

Michigan: Air National Guard: This vet received four shots in 1998 and

1999, and was diagnosed

with all the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome with an added neurological

component. She has

tremors on the right side of her body; memory loss; chronic fatigue;

shortness of breath; constant

rashes; and arthritic symptoms.

And finally, Mr. , here is what a young man wrote to me just this

morning: “Is this the end for

me?...It all started when I noticed I had an uncontrollable thump on the

left side of my head, which in

weeks led to a sort of headache. It really did not bother me too much

until my vision started to just

become so blurred that it was impossible for me to see at night. I went

to the hospital about this time

because of shortness of breath...my blood pressure has become

uncontrollable, it will not come down

to normal...most of all things that has almost pulled my spirits down, is

the not being able to

comprehend words, bad bad memory, and having to drop out of college for

these elements. I’m

always tired, no strength to run anymore...I love the military and I would

like so much to return to the

U.S. Army.â€

Nearly everyone who writes in about their reactions to the vaccine has

been told by some doctor

somewhere that it’s all in their head, that they aren’t really sick. The

military has never educated its

own physicians on adverse effects of the vaccine, so most of the time they

have no idea what they are

looking at. Civilian physicians know even less.

We are starting a massive spreadsheet where we will give each troop or vet

who writes into us a

number, and will list the lot numbers of vaccine they were give, the

dates, and the symptoms - the

beginnings of the record keeping that the military should have done long

ago.

Our troops - our men and women in uniform, who risk their lives daily to

protect us - have been used

by their own government as human guinea pigs. You are exactly right to

protest that on a civilian

basis. Following this letter is a press release we sent out last week.

Please stand firm, and don’t let

the devastation that has happened within our military be spread even

further.

With all best wishes,

D. Hubbell

President, Anthrax Vaccine Network

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