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Stars and Stripes: Buck Quitting Air Force
After Anthrax Vaccine Defense Fails
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Air Force Dr. John Buck
Buck Quitting Air Force After Anthrax Vaccine Defense Fails
May 18, 2001
Dave Eberhart
Stars and Stripes News Editor
An Air Force doctor being court-martialed for disobeying an order to take the controversial anthrax vaccine today said he would resign from the service following a judge’s ruling that effectively prevented him from introducing evidence on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.
The judge, Lt. Col. Mark Allred, said he was satisfied that the Food and Drug Administration did not consider the vaccine to be an “investigational” new drug, or one unapproved for its intended use, undermining Capt. John Buck’s argument that the order to take what he considered an unsafe and untested drug was unlawful.
Pre-trial testimony on the issue had been heard over the past four days in the courtroom at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.
I realize that it is pointless to proceed to trial if these facts cannot be presented to a jury.
· Buck
“I am dismayed at the ruling,” Buck said. “My attorneys
and I believe that the evidence presented to the judge clearly
overcame the presumption that the order to take the anthrax vaccine
was legal, and thus allowed for a trial based on the facts before
a jury of fellow officers. I realize that it is pointless to proceed
to trial if these facts cannot be presented to a jury.
“I understand that so far military appellate courts have consistently upheld the legality of orders to receive anthrax vaccinations,” he said, and therefore was asking that he be allowed to resign “as soon as possible.”
“Air Force policy directs that courts-martial may not proceed subsequent to an officer’s request for resignation unless authorized by headquarters...,” he added. “It is my hope that the leadership of the Air Force would act favorably on my request.”
To suggest a jury of officers cannot hear this evidence and make a finding is ludicrous. It is the secretary of defense who is not obeying the law—not Capt. Buck.
· Defense counsel Frank Spinner
Frank Spinner, Buck’s lead counsel, told the court that the
government had argued that placing evidence about the vaccine
before a jury would be “a waste of time and a confusing battle
of experts. To suggest a jury of officers cannot hear this evidence
and make a finding is ludicrous. It is the secretary of defense
who is not obeying the law—not Capt. Buck.”
The government prosecutor, Air Force Maj. Scott Wilkov, argued that the defense secretary had ensured that a licensed vaccine was being used. “This was a careful decision implemented only after years of consideration,” he said.
The order to take the anthrax vaccine is not unlawful because the vaccine is not perfect.
· Prosecutor Wilcox
“The order to take the anthrax vaccine is not unlawful because
the vaccine is not perfect,” Wilkov said. “Not once
did the FDA step in.”
Prosecution witness Lt. Col. John Grabenstein, deputy director of the Army’s Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP), said that extra tests of a recalled batch of anthrax vaccine (which Buck would have received) were unnecessary.
“I think the safety is clear. It causes sore arms and feelings of discomfort that are short-term. There are no patterns of long-term effects,” Grabenstein, a pharmacist, said. “We’ve looked and can’t find them. Every dose of the vaccine has been approved and released by the FDA.”
But defense expert Dr. Meryl Nass said the DoD’s own documents
showed that the vaccine was not effective nor licensed for all
strains and delivery methods and was, in effect, an experimental
drug that required the informed consent of servicemembers before
being inoculated.
Nass also questioned the conditions under which the anthrax vaccine
was manufactured in a Michigan laboratory by BioPort, Inc., the
sole maker of the vaccine. Nass, an internist and recognized expert
on anthrax, testified that FDA procedures were not followed in
licensing the vaccine, nor were scientific methods used in tests
which the government maintained were done.
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Last revised: March 2004