Friday, November 12, 1999
Refusal of vaccine leads to controversy
5 Guard members decline order for anthrax shots
BY SPENCER HUNT
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Five members of a Cincinnati-area Air National Guard unit may be discharged from service because they refused to take anthrax vaccinations ordered by their commander.
The 123rd Air Control Squadron, based in Blue Ash, will ship out to Kuwait in De cember to support allied jet fighters patrolling southern Iraq. Before they go, the 130 squadron members were ordered to start taking a series of anthrax shots.
The vaccines are part of a military medical program intended to shield soldiers from succumbing to biological weapons. Some have become wary of the shots, citing rumors of a possible link between required vaccinations and the Gulf War syndrome many service people reported after returning from the 1991 war with Iraq. “There are a lot of concerns out there,” said Capt. Neal O'Brien, an Ohio National Guard spokesman. “It's primarily a matter of misinformation.”
Capt. O'Brien said seven squadron members initially refused the shots when they reported to duty last month. Two of the seven relented after meeting with a military doctor who told them any health risks were minimal.
Discharge papers for the remaining five may already be on Ohio Adjutant General John H. Smith's desk. Capt. O'Brien said the general is likely to sign the discharges soon.
Capt. O'Brien declined to name four of the guard mem bers who refused the shots, saying they didn't want to talk publicly about their decisions.
“I didn't think I needed it because I wasn't being deployed to Kuwait,” said Laverne Owens, 39, of Forest Park. She said she refused for religious reasons. She also said she was concerned about possible side effects.
“If I were one of the airmen sent to Kuwait, I could understand,” she said Thursday night. “But I didn't feel like I needed to take it.”
She had been in the enlisted reserve for six months, and was an Air Force law enforcement specialist four years before that.
A U.S. Department of Defense Web site describes anthrax as a life-threatening bacterium that is a popular biological weapon because it can survive in spore form for decades. The spores activate in a human's lungs after they are inhaled. They quickly multiply and secrete toxins, killing an unvaccinated person within 24 to 36 hours of exposure.
Betty Kim contributed to this report.
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