Are We Caregivers Willing To Take The Anthrax Vaccine?

nur20 · Oct 31, 2001

http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/

cole1321 · Feb 10, 2008

The anthrax vaccine is to prevent anthrax which is a bacteria. There is more than one way to get it, not only via inhalation. The vaccine was first developed for farm workers that were in direct contact with animals that had the bacteria, and it was a cutaneous infection, through cuts on the skin working with your hands. The inhalation version is something that had been weaponized. Anthrax itself is a very heavy substance, that would fall to the floor and harm no one within 3 feet of it. It is dangerous when it becomes aerosalized, and then can be inhaled. Currently there was only one manufacture of the vaccine, I believe up in michigan. The owner or primary investor I believe was some high up general type retired. The plant had been shut down numerous times for not meeting FDA standards. During my time in the navy I refused the vaccine, at that time the vaccine was considered investigational by the FDA for inhalation anthrax. Soon after I refused it and was serving my punishment, the vaccine was stopped again due to failing the FDA efficacy testing, Again.

This is because the factory could not produce new stock, and could only sell and deliver stocked supplies if the vaccine had proved to be effective on lab rats. If one sample of the lot fails, then all that lot is thrown away. I had already been punished, and no one else on my ship was required to finish out the series of shots.

CHATSDALE · Feb 10, 2008

when some nutcase was out there sending letters contaminated with 'powdery white stuff'

and people were dying i think if it had been offered to me then i would have taken it

now i don't believe i would, which may be hiding my head in the sand, i don't know

i do know that anthrax is passed from animal to animal, ie cows and horses, i remember large herds had to be killed and then burned to make sure it didn't get into the soil

scary that there can be people cookig up stuff in a lab that can cause harm to innocents

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Feb 10, 2008

I don't take any med if it hasn't been available to the public for at least five years. Flushes out all the unknown side effects and gives the manufacturers a chance to recall it and fix it. Thats a policy that has saved me a few times with meds, and consumer goods as well.

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Feb 10, 2008

I was offered the Anthrax vaccine when we were going through the Anthrax attacks and the hospital was wanting to form a group to respond to such an emergency if it should come to fruition in our area. I refused.

If I truly believed it was possible to be a victim I would take the vaccine. It's better than the alternative. Until then I'll take my chances.

allnurses Guide · Feb 10, 2008

Man this is an old thread! There has been no research that I know of that links the American form of the anthrax vaccine to any untoward side-effects that aren't common to all vaccines.

As a civilian I wouldn't get it unless you absolutely have to, because it has a very short effective half-life (an estimated 1-2yrs), it is a series of 6 shots over an 18-month period, and you are supposed to have a yearly booster.

rph3664 · Feb 11, 2008

I would gladdly take a Small Pox Vacc (Had one in 1955)
Would need more infor R/T anthrax Vacc. (side effects, etc.) before I could make an informed decision.

I couldn't imagine anyone using smallpox as a bioterrorism weapon. The disease is too obvious, and by the time someone is contagious, they're going to be so sick, they aren't going anywhere.

The hospital where I work requires a 30 day deferment (i.e. not working) after taking a smallpox vaccine. I didn't start working there until 2003 but I saw that somewhere; I don't know of anyone at that facility who did.

My vaccination records show that I had it as a toddler in the mid-1960s but I have never located my "shot scar."

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Feb 11, 2008

I would gladly take a Small Pox Vacc (Had one in 1955)
Would need more infor R/T anthrax Vacc. (side effects, etc.) before I could make an informed decision.

You got a small pox vaccine when you were an infant? I was born in 1955 but didn't get my small pox vaccine until 1962. I wonder what's up with that?

CHATSDALE · Feb 11, 2008

many children didn't get a small pox vaccine until they started school

and many mothers had vaccine given on high thigh or bacside esp with girls so as not to have a prominent scar

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2008

I couldn't imagine anyone using smallpox as a bioterrorism weapon. The disease is too obvious, and by the time someone is contagious, they're going to be so sick, they aren't going anywhere.
The hospital where I work requires a 30 day deferment (i.e. not working) after taking a smallpox vaccine. I didn't start working there until 2003 but I saw that somewhere; I don't know of anyone at that facility who did.
My vaccination records show that I had it as a toddler in the mid-1960s but I have never located my "shot scar."

Uh, yeah - they'd use smallpox as a weapon in a minute. Easily spread (like an organized, simultaneous drop in NYC, LA, Chicago at X time on X day) and lethal, without the expense or knowledge required to build an atom bomb. Cheap ammunition. Oh yeah - and the mere mention of it causes panic, which terrorists LOVE.

It is possible to be contagious in the prodromal stage with the fever.

And this is unrelated - but someone many posts back said that the anthrax vaccine was blamed for Gulf War Syndrome. It wasn't. They didn't give the vaccine until 1997 - and I know because I've got all six of them. I was really PO'd about it at the time - and then in 2001 they weren't looking so ridiculous after all...

pagandeva2000, LPN · Feb 11, 2008

I would take the anthrax vaccine if it were available. Funny, I administer it for soilders and they complain that it burns. But, yes, I would, and if possible, I would also have my family vaccinated as well.

allnurses Guide · Feb 11, 2008

I would take the anthrax vaccine if it were available. Funny, I administer it for soilders and they complain that it burns. But, yes, I would, and if possible, I would also have my family vaccinated as well.

Yeah, it burns like you have just been stung by a wasp depending on which one you're on in the series, and the 1st one or two usually leaves a knot in your arm for at least a couple of months.

I have found that it hurts less if whomever is giving the shot will roll it in their hands and warm it slightly before giving it.