Vaccines: Anthrax

In my reading, I'm finding information that vaccines can be unsafe for adults as well as children. The anthrax vaccine, mandatory for all US soldiers as of 1998, has never been clinically tested for safety. Yet it has been used on all soldiers for almost 10 years.

There is an independent film being shown at the at the GI Film Festival, Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C. on May 18. This film reveals information about the anthrax vaccine and its dangers to our soldiers. You can view the trailer here. It's sad to see the images at the end of the trailer of deformed babies, borne to women who served in the military. They received the vaccine and later had deformed children. There are many cases of physical and neurological ailments tied to the vaccine. It all started with the "anthrax threat" in 2001:

Significantly, the infamous 2001 anthrax powder attacks, killing five people and sickening 17 others after 9/11, were domestic and not foreign in nature. They were allegedly inspired by laboratory insiders who mailed the powder to the offices of two US senators, a number of national news offices in New York City, and elsewhere. The incidents are still under active FBI investigation. That probe, says Fox News, recently identified three or four new suspects at an Army bioweapons lab intricately involved in helping to support the need for the mandated vaccine. They include a deputy commander, an anthrax scientist and a microbiologist. Thomas D. Williams, Truthout Report (April 9, 2008) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040908A.shtml

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. John Richardson said,

Two federal judges have now confirmed the Pentagon broke the law by forcing service members to take anthrax vaccine from 1998 to late 2005. Since 2005, mandating the vaccine is now lawful only because of the FDA's willingness to ignore clear evidence in military medical records of the deaths and disabilities associated with the anthrax vaccine. Just as the government misled the American people about the threat from Iraqi anthrax and the source of the anthrax letter attacks, it continues to mislead the troops about the safety and efficacy of the anthrax vaccine.

Also,

Several Israeli news investigative reports from May 17, 2007 and February 24, 2008 reveal that elite combat unit troops were given the experimental anthrax vaccine in 2000 without being informed what they were getting and, when they suffered severe reactions and disability, were told their poor health had nothing to do with the vaccine they were given.

What does this have to do with us who are not in the military? For me, it's eye opening to consider the breadth and depth of misinformation about vaccines. Apparently, the anthrax vaccine is not proven to protect against powder anthrax. It hasn't been clinically tested, yet is fully endorsed by the FDA.

The big question I'm facing currently is: are vaccines even effective? Do they really protect against various diseases? I've read from more than one source that major diseases were on the decline before vaccines were introduced in various communities and countries. Polio was on the decline, thanks to better sanitation, before the vaccine was introduced. It is very disturbing to me but I need to read more.