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more US Military Personnel |
| In what seems to be an increasing trend, more military personnel are willing to face harsh penalties rather than receive the anthrax vaccine. The television news show 60 Minutes ran a story on Feb. 6, 2000 concerning an ever increasing number of military personnel refusing the anthrax vaccine. In some cases those in the reserves were resigning from the service rather than submit to the vaccination. The featured military officer was Major Sonnie Bates who faces court-martial or prison for his stand. In addition to the 60 Minutes show an Associated Press article of Jan. 29, 2000 also reported on Major Sonnie Bates who may be the highest ranking officer in the US Air Force to face court-martial for refusing the shots. In support of the Major, dozens of people protested outside Dover Air Force Base. The protesters carried signs which read: “Free Major Bates” and “My husband will take a bullet for America but not the Anthrax vaccine.” “The people who refuse this vaccine are being raped of the same civil rights they fight to protect,” said one protester Gloria Webb of Ellendale. In defense of his actions Major Bates commented, “I am doing what I have always been trained to do and taught to do,” he said. “If you know it is right, you stand up for it. And likewise, if you know it is wrong, you have to challenge it. No matter what the consequences.” Maj. Sonnie Bates faces up to five years in a military prison for disobeying an order. |
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'just In case' antibiotic use for anthrax |
| In a Reuters Health, October 31, 2001 release is a warning from the United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO) against taking antibiotics without any need. In the wake of recent Anthrax reports more people have been taking the popular antibiotic Cipro without any real need for it. The warning is against the blanket use of antibiotics as a defense against anthrax, saying it could do more harm than good. David Heymann, the head of the WHO communicable diseases program said antibiotics should be prescribed only when there was reasonable cause to think a person had been in contact with anthrax. In an interview at the Geneva-based United Nations agency, Heymann said, "If you are not at risk, you do yourselves and others a disservice by demanding antibiotics". He continued, "The use of antibiotics as 'just in case' protection by people alarmed by reports that anthrax had been found in letters could leave them more susceptible to other unrelated infections. The problem is that bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics very quickly and can then be passed from one person to another just like a virus. A major WHO concern has been the declining potency of some antibiotics such as penicillin, resulting from widespread overuse. For example, penicillin, can no longer be used against gonorrhea because strains of the sexually transmitted disease have evolved that are immune to the antibiotic. Heymann concluded, "One has to remember there is a much greater chance of catching pneumonia than of contracting anthrax." |
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