re: Military members to “quit” if faced with mandatory vaccinations

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AnthraxVax was deemed an unnecessary risk unless deployment was to an area where Anthrax bioweapon exposure might occur

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You mean like Area 1, where I was for all of 2001 and part of 2002?

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When I was in Korea from December 2000 - March 2002, MEDCOM could NOT administer the Anthrax shot.

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Because those were the orders.
If there had been a possibility of an Anthrax attack on the Korean Peninsula, MEDCOM would have been ordered to administer the AnthraxVax, and you would have been ordered to take it.

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Not once was I ordered to take a vaccine that was not FDA approved or under a legal review.

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What happens in this scenario? There is a deployment to a region with a novel infectious virus that has asymptomatic shedding before the onset of symptoms, which end up being severe. Military doctors isolate the agent, and develop a vaccination program that shows immediate efficacy, and they suggest mass vaccinations. Could the military order mass vaccinations despite the impossibility of it getting FDA approval due to time constraints?

Unless it has changed since I retired you have to be court martialed to get a punitive discharge (bad conduct or dishonorable).

Someone I served with refused the Antrhax shot and ultimately wound up with a general discharge. You can apply to have your discharge upgraded.

Discharge review boards can do the following.

Upgrade general discharges, other than honorable (undesirable) discharges, and special court-martial bad conduct discharges.

Change the reason for discharge.


Board for Correction of Military Records

Applies if you have a general courts-martial discharge or want to a change your discharge to or from medical retirement or medical discharge.

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Their body,

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Not when they work for Uncle Sam.

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Someone I served with refused the Antrhax shot and ultimately wound up with a general discharge. You can apply to have your discharge upgraded.

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They can force you out with an administrative discharge as well without a court martial.

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I don't think this thing is going to work out very well.

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It will certainly keep the IG busy.

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let's say the mass vaccination program is recommended for everyone based on the virulence of the pathogen. The military surely has some guidelines about this particular situation?

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If the mortality rate was anywhere close to 10-20% maybe.

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Area 1 was extremely high risk back then

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For Anthrax Bioweapons?

I got 2 Anthrax shots while the program was up and running. A few days after I got the 2nd shot (while deployed) the program was put on hold and I don't remember ever getting another one.

"The vaccine was given as a series of five shots. After the first shot, the vaccine is given four weeks, six months, 12 months and 18 months later, and annually or every three years thereafter, depending on risk."