Total Force Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program: Controversy and Conflagration

Abstract

Washington, D.C. has perceived the threat of anthrax from any of several hostile parties. The offer of protection comes in the form of the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (“AVIPâ€). On 18 May 1998, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen signed the Total Force Immunization Directive to provide the Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (“AVAâ€) to all active and reserve Armed Forces members over a period of seven years. The question of whether Secretary Cohen was right is one that has yet to be answered. The AVIP is a massive program to be enacted in three phases. Even prior to the program’s inception, Secretary Cohen attached four conditions that had to be met before proceeding. By the middle of 1998, the Department of Defense was satisfied that all four conditions had been met and proceeded to implement AVIP. Subsequently, each of the four conditions has been challenged.Legal challenge, personal resistance, poor implementation, loss of personnel, and developing health concerns plagued the Program.