Tuesday, March 27, 2007

I knew this was a bad idea, 10 years ago

Glad I copied my medical records, including the record of the 6 anthrax shots I received on Active Duty.

Raw Story has a piece on the Anthrax vaccine.

4 words.

Son of a bitch.

4 more.

I frickin knew it.

Anthrax shots were the worst. The reactions for soldiers differed. Some just got the standard arm/muscle pain. Some got nice "little" golf ball sized welts on their tricep. I, like many others, simply felt a lot of pain for a few hours after the shot. Imagine someone holding a lighter to your tricep for 3 hours.

That's what each of the 6 anthrax shots felt like for me. They frickin hurt.

I knew several soldiers who faced Field Grade Article 15's for refusing to take these shots. They were also non-deployable and subsequently kicked out of the Army. One of my soldiers refused to take these shots. His wife being a nurse, advised him to not do this. I spoke to his wife numerous times, regardless, this young Sergeant refused to take a shot. I agreed with them as well, especially after a few discussions with his wife. I was one of the last in my unit to get the first round of shots. Yeah, I came up with excuse after excuse, appointment after appointment, trying to find a way where they might just forget about me.

They didn't.

Seems like doctors at Walter Reed want to study the impact of these shots.
While the Defense Department maintains that the anthrax vaccine is safe and poses no long-term risks to recipients, a little-known program at Walter Reed – the National Vaccine Healthcare Center – seems to contradict the military’s assertions.

Documents obtained by RAW STORY, including a participant’s agreement, case history and government documents, show that military medical personnel have known since at least 1998 that there are genetic triggers between illnesses and some required immunizations, including the anthrax vaccine. They also reveal the military knew and did not implement routine pre-screening which could help reduce vaccine-related illnesses.

A flyer posted by the Vaccine Healthcare Center shows that Walter Reed is soliciting servicemembers who have suffered as a result of the vaccine. The flyer asserts that “adverse effects may include redness or swelling where the shot was given (larger than the bottom of a soda can) and/or more than 24 hours of headaches, muscle/joint pains, and/or fatigue (tiredness) that interfered with your daily activities.”

It turns out, the FDA has never approved this vaccination for our soldiers.
In 2004, a federal judge ruled that the military’s mandatory administration of the vaccine was illegal because the Food and Drug Administration had not approved its use for inhalation anthrax, only for anthrax contracted through the skin. After FDA
approval, the judge allowed voluntary injections. The Defense Department resumed
mandatory shots this month. The Pentagon continues to defend the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.

Kind of like all the crap my friends had to take during the first Iraq War, PB pills and all that crap.

Why do we have to be the proverbial guinea pig? I knew this was a bad idea at the time...and now, time will tell.

I'm glad I got my copy of my shot records!

3 comments:

Tedj said...

Guenea pigs. Our government experiments on the troops. I have seen the enemy and he is us.

Unknown said...

I read this last night and was too depressed about it to post. Doesn't it seem like the professionals throughout government are suddenly no longer scared to speak out about everything and anything?

What bothers me more than anything about this is the DoD is content with telling lies whenever it suits them. Why shouldn't this be criminal negligence? If the new batch of gunnea pigs have loads of babies with downs syndrome, people should go to prison over it!

Dan said...

Your desription of the Anthrax debacle that's still taking place is an example of current medical ideology an it's sacred cow, vaccination.

But the reality is that this takes place every day millions of times on children, millions of children.

Each vaccine is an expriment becasue the FDA is all but useless and does not even require adequate saftey studies, let alone long-term safety studies. To date, there has never been a long term safety study done to approve a vaccine.

Please consider posting a testimonial on the website www.novaccine.com of your experiences with these shots. It is also, arguably, the most thorough resource for studying this subject.

Keep getting the word out!

Dan Schultz