WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Washington ruled Monday that the U.S. Department of Defense must stop giving military personnel anthrax vaccinations without their consent.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan issued a preliminary injunction halting the inoculation of "service members without their consent" and ordered Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other defendants to file a response by Jan. 30.
The ruling was in response to a suit filed by unnamed active duty and selected National Guard members as well as civilian contract employees of the Department of Defense who were ordered to be vaccinated against exposure to anthrax.
Sullivan said the question was whether Anthrax Vaccine Absorbed, which is used by the military for the vaccinations, is "investigational" or unapproved for use against inhalation anthrax. The judge ruled the anthrax vaccinations had to conform to a law banning certain experimental drugs without the consent of the people being inoculated.
Under the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program, thousands of members of the U.S. armed services have been given shots against anthrax exposure since 1998.
