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Anthrax Vaccine
Thursday
October 11, 2001
One man's dead and just today, there is news that a 35-year-old woman is the third person infected. Nobody knows how many other Americans may be in danger from anthrax. Additionally, there are those who say there's something else just as frightening as contracting the deadly disease, and that's taking the only known vaccine for it.
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Jon Irelan and Darren Ziemski are among 520,000 American military personnel who were given the anthrax vaccine to protect them from biological weapons while serving in the Gulf War. Darren says, “To the public, I would say please don't do it"
They're among more than a thousand of those veterans who claim the vaccine left them seriously and permanently incapacitated. Jon says, “Had I known the risks, I would not have taken the vaccine."
This former army major says he now suffers chronic muscle and joint pain from head to toe, along with severe memory loss, mood swings, and a severe male hormone deficiency. He says, “My body stopped producing testosterone.”
First Jon lost his sex drive, and then his whiskers. He says, “I went from shaving once or twice a day to simply not having to shave."
Now he must take testosterone injections every ten days.
Darren says she suffers from many of the same symptoms. She says, “I shouldn't at 31 feel like I’m 50."
The once athletic army vet says she came down with a multitude of ailments that have left her a virtual cripple. She says, “I pretty much get out of bed, if I can, and go to my chair just to sit."
But Jon and Darren are lucky compared with some other reported cases. Anti-vaccine crusader Dr. Meryl Nass says, “A number of people have gotten multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, lupus, and some people have died"
The government denies there have been any fatalities, but Dr. Nass insists there are serious health risks associated with the anthrax vaccine. Dr. Nass says, “The current vaccine should not be licensed because its manufacturing methodology has never been approved."
In fact, the BioPort pharmaceutical company of Lansing, Michigan stopped distributing the vaccine several years ago after repeatedly failing to meet Federal Drug Administration standards. But BioPort president Robert Kramer told Barbara Walters on "20/20" this week that he expects to get FDA approval for the vaccine within days. He said, “We've worked with them very closely for the last 18 months and I’m confident when we present the package to them on October 15 that will completely satisfy them."
But it wouldn't satisfy Dr. Nass, who insists the vaccine still hasn't been perfected.
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