How could “experts” approve such a potentially dangerous plan for kids?

Guinea kids

Just when you think the crazy world of vaccines can’t get any crazier, well…you’re crazy wrong.

To beef up preparation for an anthrax attack, an expert panel has advised Health and Human Services that it’s time to seriously consider testing the anthrax vaccine on kids younger than 18.

So — are you ready to put your young children out there on the front line to help test this vaccine?

Before you answer, there are a few details you really should know about.

Outside the comfort zone

Here’s what’s at stake…

In the event of an anthrax attack, authorities wouldn’t know what dosage of BioThrax (the anthrax vaccine) to give to kids. A dosage lower than an adult dosage might not be effective, but an adult dosage might produce too many adverse effects.

That’s the first big problem with a BioThrax test for kids: For some who get a higher dose, the trial might turn tragic. According to the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System has received more than 7,000 reports of health problems linked to BioThrax (including brain inflammation, seizures, paralysis, severe joint pain, and memory loss).

About 300 of those cases resulted in permanent disability and more than 25 deaths.

So even for adults, BioThrax is not a walk in the park. (In fact, it doesn’t sound that much better than Anthrax!)

Problem number two: Most kids already get too many vaccines. So how might BioThrax interact with a wide range of other childhood vaccines? Nobody knows.

Problem three sort of goes hand-in-hand with problem four: Once the vaccine is given, how do you know it will work? Do you expose a vaccinated child to anthrax?

…and problem four: According to BioThrax prescribing information, “Vaccination with BioThrax may not protect all individuals.”

Those two problems might create HUGE problems.

Problem five: This isn’t a problem, exactly, but rather an elephant-in-the-room question: What’s the likelihood any of us — children or adults — will ever find our communities under anthrax attack? So far, the number of military or terrorist anthrax attacks on a population totals zero, other than the very limited use of anthrax in the U.S. mail in 2001. So basically this is a vaccine for something that might never come to pass.

Okay, but let’s imagine all of those five problems were off the table — they don’t exist. Let’s say BioThrax works beautifully and is perfectly safe. If that were the case, there would still be one enormous glaring problem that’s completely insurmountable in the event of an anthrax attack. Which brings us to…

Problem six: BioThrax is given in five doses over 18 months, and protection prior to the completion of the full five doses is unknown.

If your community is attacked with an anthrax bomb, you’ll begin inhaling the bacterium within hours. So when the danger is suddenly all around you, what’s the point of beginning a vaccine regimen that may take a year and a half to reach full protection?

I think I can see the answer to that one coming a mile away: After testing in children is complete, the CDC will recommend we ALL get the vaccine as a precaution, just as U.S. military personnel currently do.

We’ll probably never experience a significant anthrax attack, and the worst adverse effects of the vaccine are horrifying, but it’s a product that already exists with an FDA approval. The temptation to use fear-mongering to turn it into a best seller is just too great.

All they’ll need is one more small anthrax scare and…off we go!

Sources: 
“Federal advisers endorse testing anthrax vaccine in children” Rob Stein, Washington Post, 10/28/11, washingtonpost.com

“Anthrax Vaccine” National Vaccine Information Center, nvic.org