COURT ORDERS DETAILED ANTHRAX SHOT PROCEDURE AFTER ERROR IN IRAQ
Homeland Defense Watch
A federal judge who last year banned the Defense Department from giving service members involuntary anthrax vaccines has ordered the Pentagon to circulate detailed instructions to medics around the globe to ensure they have obtained a patient's permission before administering a shot.
The new directive follows a report the Bush administration delivered to the U.S. District Court saying "that an involuntary anthrax vaccination was administered at a U.S. military medical clinic in Iraq, in violation of this Court's injunction," in the words of a "minute order" Judge Emmet Sullivan issued Aug. 30.
After a seven-month hiatus, the Pentagon resumed giving anthrax vaccines under "emergency" authority -- strictly on a voluntary basis -- beginning in May (Inside the Pentagon, May 5, p5).
The Defense Department is the lead defendant named in a lawsuit filed in March 2003 by six anonymous DOD employees who were subject to then-mandatory shots. Following summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs that resulted in a permanent injunction against the involuntary shots program, the administration has appealed to a higher court, where the case is now pending (ITP, May 19, p1).
However, Sullivan retains the ability to compel compliance with his ruling, as reflected by the new minute order.
In it, he notes that following the errant injection, the commanding officer of the medical unit in Iraq issued a memorandum to his subordinates on how to avoid additional involuntary shots. The Pentagon detailed the commander's memo in a July 22 filing to the court.
A federal judge who last year banned the Defense Department from giving service members involuntary anthrax vaccines has ordered the Pentagon to circulate detailed instructions to medics around the globe to ensure they have obtained a patient's permission before administering a shot.
The new directive follows a report the Bush administration delivered to the U.S. District Court saying "that an involuntary anthrax vaccination was administered at a U.S. military medical clinic in Iraq, in violation of this Court's injunction," in the words of a "minute order" Judge Emmet Sullivan issued Aug. 30.
After a seven-month hiatus, the Pentagon resumed giving anthrax vaccines under "emergency" authority -- strictly on a voluntary basis -- beginning in May (Inside the Pentagon, May 5, p5).
The Defense Department is the lead defendant named in a lawsuit filed in March 2003 by six anonymous DOD employees who were subject to then-mandatory shots. Following summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs that resulted in a permanent injunction against the involuntary shots program, the administration has appealed to a higher court, where the case is now pending (ITP, May 19, p1).
However, Sullivan retains the ability to compel compliance with his ruling, as reflected by the new minute order.
In it, he notes that following the errant injection, the commanding officer of the medical unit in Iraq issued a memorandum to his subordinates on how to avoid additional involuntary shots. The Pentagon detailed the commander's memo in a July 22 filing to the court.
