It is great to be back in SURFLANT Country. My greatest Navy memories are those as a Destroyer Squadron Physician with the USS AMERICA Battle Group during the Bosnia conflict in 1995-1996 and my tour with the Regional Support Group, in Mayport, FL.

I want to thank the Institute for inviting me to this conference, and I am looking forward to this discussion of the issues regarding the Anthrax Vaccination Immunization Program (AVIP).

It is my belief that there are several important reasons why this program has become so controversial.

Many of you in this audience have been or are CO's or XO's of a Naval vessel. As you know, whether it is a Frigate, Destroyer, or Cruiser, there is only one member of the crew, whose absence can prevent that ship from going underway, and it is not the XO or the CO. It is the enlisted - Independent Duty Corpsman or IDC.

This policy is ingrained in Naval tradition and must never be compromised. It insures that the crew has an independent health and safety advocate while underway. Let us suppose that the IDC determines that food storage temperatures are not within standards and that the food must be discarded as the risks of contamination by bacteria are too great, or perhaps, the water is contaminated, or the vaccination schedules are not being adhered to, or in the case of Anthrax, a vaccine is resulting in reactions far in excess of merely being a sore, red arm.

The IDC is truly the sole health and safety advocate for those aboard his assigned vessel. The IDC must be willing to respectfully stand up to his CO if need be to convey his/her concerns on behalf of his shipmates.

This relationship reflects the Navy at large. The IDC represents the medical corps and the ship's crew represents our military personnel, active, reserve, retirees, and their families.

As such, the Navy medical corps must be willing to stand up for our military personnel as their safety and health advocate. They must be ardent defenders of the Hippocratic oath, "to do no harm", and they must be perceived by their Navy and Marine comrades to be on their side for health and safety issues.

Navy Medicine must never remain silent regarding the health and safety of our Sailors and Marines, including those issues surrounding the A.V.I.P. To do so, places our service members defenseless against any hope of rescue from a contaminated product, whether it is food, water, or a vaccine.

Unfortunately, it is this palpable silence by our medical corps leadership that is resulting in a massive exodus of military physicians from the military as described in this September's issue of US Medicine by ADM Koenig, former Navy Surgeon General. In it he describes in detail how good military physicians who try to do the right thing are summarily punished, threatened with court-martial, or given career ending fitness reports by their superiors for speaking out on behalf of their patients.

This silence must end, and our medical corps and its leaders must become strident advocates for our active duty personnel to provide the ultimate in health care for all of our military service members; whether it is the pursuit of state of the art vaccines, using DNA recombinant technologies, or military personnel detection devices against biological weaponry, or post-exposure antibiotic treatment protocols, or protective chemical suits, or other ideas, yet to be discovered. We must work with other scientists within our civilian communities as well as ongoing research throughout the earth to provide our military with the state of the art technology in an ever- changing world.

We must be willing to admit that decisions in the past may have been premature, and that perhaps the fault was that we were too anxious for a response against biological terrorism. Perhaps, now, we have the opportunity to work together to provide our military with a truly state of the art health care delivery system, using 21st Century technology which will protect our men and women in uniform as they go in harm's way.

Only last week and today, as I speak, the House Committee on Government Reform is holding hearings on this very issue. Last weeks hearings included testimony from military members like Senior Airman, Thomas Colosimo who received four anthrax injections, and after each one developed cysts on his scalp with severe headaches, weight loss, and bouts of loss of consciousness over a dozen times. Or, Kevin Edwards, who is a soldier in the US Army, who reports cystic lesions on his mouth, face, neck, and back, with episodic headaches. He was later diagnosed with Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome with the Anthrax vaccine as a likely cause.

Or, Jon Irelan, an Army Officer, who after receiving four injections of vaccine, has lost his facial hair, his testicles have atrophied, and he has gained weight without explanation. An extensive work up was performed and a flight surgeon recorded that he should not take another Anthrax injection. His superior officer ignored this physician's recommendation and it was made clear that no linkage to the Anthrax vaccine would be reported.

Thankfully, Mr. Irelan found his way to a competent military urologist who upon reviewing his medical record, exclaimed, "Screw them, I'm treating him". The urologist went on to say that Jon Irelan had primary testicular failure due to an immunological response resulting in testicular demise, requiring testosterone treatments for the rest of his life. And finally, Mrs. Barbara Dunn, whose husband, Richard Dunn, died from a ventricular arrhythmia, arising from an inflammatory response within his coronary arteries.

An autopsy report by Ionia County Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Robert Joyce, identified not only an inflammatory response within his coronary arteries, but an extensive inflammatory response throughout Mr. Dunn's body, and strongly suggested that the repeated inoculations of the Anthrax vaccine were the most likely cause.

These stories are compelling and we must place a moratorium on this vaccine, until we know more. These cases strongly suggest bacterial or other contaminants, and we must seek out the truth. It is clearly time for all sides to come together toward this common goal of preventing further harm to our military personnel.

We have a volunteer military force that is the most academically superior in all of its history. They are computer savvy, they are intellectually curious, they want the truth, and they want to trust our military leaders. But this trust must be earned. The military and its political leaders must reverse the perceptions of conflicts of interest, and the lack of health and safety concerns for its subordinates. We must have a military that is perceived as having unquestioned truth, honor, and integrity as its core values.

Only then, will military medicine regain its position as the health and safety advocate for all of our military personnel and their families, past and present. Only then, will our military begin to reverse the serious outflow of talented personnel from its ranks. And only then, will we be able to continue to attract the best and brightest for the greatest military in the world. I thank you.

Contents
Official Documents
Congressional Testimony
Position Papers
Troop Experiences
News Articles
Government Contact Information
Opinion
Informative WWW Sites
Benefit versus Risk

Last revised: March 2001