User:AprilIsTrying/Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program



The Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (abbreviated as AVIP) is a policy which was set into place by then-President Bill Clinton in order to vaccinate the U.S. Military against anthrax, the infection caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. The program began in 1998 and has faced various animadversions due to mammoth anti-vaccination hysteria. Many concerns were raised about "severe side effects" which in the home of the brave instantaneously warrants the cancellation of essential vaccination programs.

It exists to this day, as some personnel still receive the anthrax vaccine, however as indicated beforehand, the program has incurred massive manufactroversy in the feigned "land of the free." Battles against this program began all the way back in the 1990s.

Background
It is paramount that a proper background is provided before diving into the MMR scare-esque response to the vaccination program. To this very day, we can certainly surmise that people are still misinformed on this subject; or perhaps are completely unaware about the vaccine mandate (and even the vaccine itself). As long as anti-vaccinationists plague this planet, we shall have to deal with unceasing hysteria concerning various different jabs. The program wasn't implemented randomly; there was some context behind its implementation.

Anthrax
As stated previously, anthrax is a rare albeit serious illness caused by Bacillus anthracis. It can be found naturally in the soil, consequently, it typically infects domesticated and wild animals. If a human comes into contact with an infected animal, the human can also become infected by anthrax; thus making it a zoonosis (zoonotic disease). Keep in mind that anthrax isn't contagious, meaning it does not spread person-to-person.

Human anthrax cases manifest in four ways, but only three will be covered (as the fourth manifestation has never occurred in the United States).


 * Cutaneous infection accounts for more than 95 percent of cases. This occurs when anthrax spores get into the skin via cut or scrape. Cutaneous anthrax cases have an incubation period of 1 to 14 days; but most frequently, the incubation period is a mere 2 to 5 days. Without treatment, more than 20 percent of cutaneous anthrax infections will result in fatality, although antimicrobial treatment depletes the amount of lethal cases to under 1 percent.


 * Inhalation anthrax occurs when anthrax spores are inhaled. This is the most deadly manifestation of anthrax; even with the most aggressive treatment, only a grisly 55% of hosts survive.


 * Gastrointestinal anthrax occurs when raw or undercooked meat from an animal infected with the disease anthrax is eaten. When the food is ingested, anthrax spores affect the esophagus, stomach, and intestines, causing myriad symptoms. With the most aggressive treatment, this manifestation of anthrax renders a 60 percent survival rate, which would perhaps be allaying if that didn't mean there's a 40% death rate.

Bioterrorism potential
Oh, did we mention that anthrax makes for a good biological weapon?

Anthrax has excellent potential to be utilized for bioterrorism. Since biological weaponry involves germs that can easily sicken and kill people, anthrax easily fits the aforementioned criteria. Anthrax is abundant in nature, can straightforwardly be produced in a lab, is able to last for a very long time in nature, and can be released clandestinely (after all, the spores are microscopic).

Contemporary attacks
On April 2, 1979, in the soviet city of Sverdlovsk, an inadvertent anthrax outbreak occurred wherein anthrax spores were released from a military facility. The sudden release of anthrax spores caused 94 cases, 64 of which succumbed to the subsequent disease. Soviet authorities blamed the deaths on contaminated meat, but afterward Boris Yeltsin admitted that sums of meat were not the cause of death; anthrax spores were at fault.

In case this wasn't enough evidence as to why anthrax vaccination is vital, there was an anthrax attack in the United States amidst its vaccination program.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, there was a series of anthrax attacks that occurred over a period of several weeks. Letters containing anthrax were mailed to Democratic Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy and various news media offices. Five people died alongside seventeen others who were infected but survived.

We are dealing with a bacteria that literally managed to be sent through the mail and thereafter infect twenty-two people in the immediate aftermath of a gargantuan terrorist attack. It should be patent that in an age where many countries are openly hostile toward one another that anthrax attacks can easily be executed. They have the potential to kill bevies of people if circumspectly carried out.

The vaccine program
Considering all the above, it should be obvious that vaccinating as many as possible against anthrax is of prime importance in order to prevent future anthrax attacks. The government of the United States knew this back in the 1990s and thus began vaccinating its military. The first large-scale utilization of the anthrax vaccine occurred back in 1991 for military personnel involved in the Persian Gulf War. Fast forward seven years later in 1998, the Department of Defense (DoD) commenced AVIP, which mandated anthrax vaccination so that United States forces wouldn't be at risk of anthrax infection from biological attacks (particularly inhalation anthrax; because that's the deadliest manifestation of anthrax). Secretary of Defense William Cohen specified that "anthrax poses a clear and present danger to our armed forces. It is the weapon of choice for germ warfare because it is easy to weaponize and is as lethal as the Ebola virus. At least seven potential adversaries have worked to develop the offensive use of anthrax." This meant that a vaccine program had to be intolerable towards vaccine hesitancy. Regardless of the threat, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, a tsunami of controversy was afoot; one involving, rather ironically, a small sum of military officials all eager to sabotage the program, who saw themselves as freedom fighters like as not. The fact that those who rejected the vaccine would frequently be fired only helped to make anti-vaccinationists sob foment opposition towards the essential vaccine mandate.

https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/resources/anthrax-vaccine-research.html

There is no science to support their fear.

Many of those in the armed forces did not wish to get vaccinated against anthrax. Gaston Randolph said it best; "Things have changed. They used to stand you in line, give you two or three shots, and off you went. Nobody asked what they were for. There has been a […] shift in the relationship between health care providers and patients, no longer do you just put a patient in a doctor’s office or in a shot line." It seemed as if those in the military had begun to suspect vaccines; the US military is known to give myriad vaccines to its troops, so it was surprising to see such a sudden spike in vaccine hesitancy in that specific branch of government. As per usual, the excuses were archetypal; claims that the vaccine was experimental, dangerous, ineffective and unproven. A prominent critic was Rep. Christopher Shays from Connecticut, who issued a report which raised doubt upon the safety and effectiveness of the shots; thereupon endorsing the suspension of vaccine mandates and consequently labeling the anthrax vaccine as "experimental." Did we mention he was the chairperson of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, veterans’ affairs, and international relations? Rep. Dan Burton, the chairperson of the House Committee on Government Reform, simultaneously espoused the fantasy of anti-vaccination, announced proudly “An increasing number of individuals are suffering life-altering injuries from the vaccine.” Is this not raising some parallels to anti-COVID-19 vaccinationists?

...(some more discussion on the manufactroversy)

https://www.airforcemag.com/article/1200anthrax/

The vaccine itself (Biothrax)
Most people who get an anthrax vaccine do not have any serious problems with it. With any medicine, including vaccines, there is a chance of side effects. These are usually mild and go away on their own within a few days, but serious reactions are also possible.

The only human anthrax vaccine approved for use in the United States is anthrax vaccine adsorbed; which is known by the brand name BioThrax. It was first licensed back in 1970 for people at risk of contracting anthrax, such as veterinarians. So, it is not by any means a new vaccine or one which suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Regardless, the age of vaccines doesn't matter; but if we are to argue that new vaccines are "dangerous" because they have undergone "little research", would there not have been a massive amount of death amongst veterinarians during the 1970s? The vaccine is approved for both pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis. This means that someone who's never been exposed to anthrax can take it. So can a person who was previously infected by anthrax.

Five doses of BioThrax are necessary for the best protection against anthrax. These five doses are given across a time interval of 18 months, thereupon an annual booster shot is required. Most side effects from BioThrax are mild; the emphasis on "severe side effects" is markedly bloated. The most common side effects include reactions at the location the shot was given, myalgia (muscle pain), cephalgia (headaches), and fatigue. Nay, these side effects aren't what one would presume are lethal. Studies have proven BioThrax protects around 9 out of 10 fully vaccinated patients; particularly 93 percent of the time (with the annual boosters, of course).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25057597/

Shit hitting the fan
So, in case you were not following; a completely safe vaccine was being slandered as being "more likely to cause severe side effects" when in reality its side effects were like that of any other shot; thus anti-vaccinationists set their eyes upon the anthrax vaccine mandate and declared it to be "detrimental" to the safety of the troops. In 1999, the first member of the air force (Jeffrey A. Bettendorf) was discharged for refusing to receive anthrax vaccine because he sincerely believed the safety and effectiveness of the shot were "unproven." Similarly, Rafal Zelek, a former private 1st class, had to plead guilty in a court-martial for refusing the anthrax vaccine; they were sent to the brig for 30 days and received a subsequent demotion. The government was beginning to grow weary of these anti-vaccinationists. During that same year, twenty-three sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt were demoted and fined for their refusal to receive the anthrax vaccine. One of these anti-vaccinationists on the racist-imperialist-bastard ship Roosevelt sent an anonymous e-mail to The Virginian-Pilot which beautifully summarized the logic of this tiny but loud minority of anti-anthrax vaccine mandate troops;

I was given nothing to explain what I was taking, so I did my own research and found disturbing reports...we are scared.

Perhaps this individual set the world record in acquiring a doctorate in the medical sciences, while so bravely doing their own research. A couple more sailors did not wish to take the vaccine, but eventually gave in to the mandate, thus they faced no consequences. Meantime, two dozen marines in Okinawa refused to receive the anthrax vaccine. The marines thereafter could stop illegally colonizing Okinawa likely were given punishments for their actions.

While the anti-vaccinationists were definitely burdensome, notice that they constituted a tiny minority of individuals. A rational person would expect this trivial coterie of anti-vaccinationists to receive little if not no attention. What's vexing is how quickly these cranks were taken seriously; they were interviewed and given the limelight by various media outlets, which perhaps oriented many people to their absurd stance on anthrax vaccine mandates.

https://apnews.com/article/99c5a85083bb496fa532bcfbc5561361

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)76173-0/fulltext