The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 10/23/02
Vaccine blamed for pilot dropout rate 
The Associated Press 
Washington -- Highly trained and experienced pilots and crews in the Air 
National Guard and Air Force Reserve are leaving or have left military service in 
part because of the Pentagon's anthrax vaccine, congressional investigators 
said in a report released Tuesday.
Randomly selected guard and reserve troops surveyed in 2000 by the General 
Accounting Office also reported adverse reactions to the vaccine at double the 
rate claimed by the manufacturer, BioPort Corp., the GAO said.
Military members who have left represent some of the most experienced and 
highly trained individuals in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve "and 
are people not easily replaced," the GAO said.
The GAO recommended that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld require a 
surveillance program to monitor problems with the vaccine.
In a response included with the report, the Defense Department disagreed with 
the GAO's recommendation and some of its findings. Reginald J. Brown, 
assistant secretary of the Army, cited a National Academy of Sciences report 
that concluded no data pointed to a need for monitoring. Brown also said the 
GAO's findings on rates of separation by pilots were not supported by data from 
the Defense Manpower Data Center and that the GAO did not consider normal 
turnover.
The GAO mailed 1,253 questionnaires in May 2000 and received 843 
responses. The survey was conducted at the request of Rep. Dan Burton (R-
Ind.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee.
The GAO estimated that 37 percent of the service members surveyed had 
received one or more anthrax shots as of September 2000. Of those, 85 
percent reported experiencing some sort of reaction, far higher than the 30 
percent claimed by the vaccine's manufacturer.