WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court yesterday upheld a program that requires some members of the military to be vaccinated against anthrax over objections from service members who say the vaccine has not been proved to be effective.
The US Court of Appeals in Washington upheld a lower court’s decision dismissing a case brought by eight service members who challenged the Food and Drug Administration’s determination that the vaccine was effective.
The plaintiffs also wanted to stop the Defense Department’s requirement that service members at risk for anthrax exposure must be vaccinated.
Anthrax is a bacterial disease that mainly affects animals but that humans can contract through skin contact, inhalation, or ingestion. Inhaled anthrax is more difficult to treat and can be fatal.
The military’s vaccine, produced by Michigan-based Bioport Corp., was approved based on a human test in the 1950s that studied textile workers at risk for the disease because they routinely handled infected goat hair. Since then industrial conditions have improved and there has not been another study because of the health risks associated with exposing people to the disease.
The service members argued that because the one human study included only a few inhalation cases, there is insufficient evidence to conclude the vaccine is effective against them.
But the appeals court ruled that the service members who filed the suit did not provide any scientific evidence to prove the vaccine was ineffective.
