RE: "Republicans in Congress are demanding
that the FDA prove the safety of the controversial mandatory anthrax
vaccine for military personnel ordered by the president...."
(Found on the Internet at: http://web1.insightmag.com/articles/story5.html)
While the unfortunate statement above that begins the recent Insight Magazine article is true, it does not reflect the bipartisan nature of the anthrax vaccination policy, or our efforts at trying to search for a bipartisan solution to stop it. If this policy becomes identified with only one party, it will only take longer to terminate the shots -- meaning more service members will become ill because of the policy.
In discussing the issue with the media, please note that while
four
Republican Congressmen may have written the recent letter to the
FDA
commissioner, they and other co-sponsors of H.R. 2543 and 2548
are a very bipartisan group. What these legislators have in common
is a willingness to look beyond Pentagon spin and to truly listen
to the concerns of service members.
The DoD Anthrax Vaccination Immunization Policy (AVIP) is a
bipartisan policy snafu that is the responsibility of a Democratic
President and a Republican Secretary of Defense. The impetus for
this policy originated in Congress, where members of both parties
have:
1) demanded "accountability" following the Khobar Towers
bombing, prompting SecDef Cohen to impose a new standard of "force
protection" that has fundamentally altered the way the US
military operates -- and the measures of mission success by which
military commanders are judged, and, 2) demanded that the government
"do something" to respond to a perceived threat from
terrorism.
The AVIP is a misguided attempt to respond to bipartisan mandates
from
Congress on both "force protection" and "terrorism."
Therefore it will
require a bipartisan consensus to stop the AVIP before it causes
even more service members to become ill. At this time the impediment
to reaching a solution in Congress appears to lie with two Republicans:
1) Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the Senate Veterans
Affairs Cmte, whose preoccupation with the so-called terrorist
threat has caused him to be unwilling to stop what he and the
Administration perceive as a counter-terrorism policy.
2) Rep Stephen Buyer (R-IN), who, as chairman of the House Armed
Services Cmte Military Personnel Subcommittee has blocked legislation
to terminate the AVIP from getting to the House floor. Based on
comments he made during his 30 Sep 99 hearing, Rep Buyer's opposition
appears to be based on an antipathy to what he called "pampered
pilots" who had better living conditions than he did as an
Army lawyer in the Gulf War.
Please get the word out to the media so a solution to terminating the anthrax vaccination policy is not held hostage to partisan politics. Military service members' health is not a partisan issue.
The author is unnamed and this document
is posted with permission. Their opinion does not necessarily
reflect that of the author of this site.
Last revised: March 2000