Army Researchers Will Study Long-Term Effects of Vaccines

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - Researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases are studying the long-term effects of repeated administration of multiple vaccines, including an anthrax vaccine, Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed.

Soldiers and employees of Fort Detrick who were immunized from 1970 to 2002 as part of the Army's Special Immunization Program or its predecessor, the Special Procedures Program, were eligible to participate.

While similar studies of the effects of receiving multiple vaccines have been performed at Fort Detrick through the years, the latest will be the first to study the health of those who have received multiple vaccines and the AVA.

"We can look at individuals who have received AVA plus a lot of other vaccines versus other vaccines but no AVA," Col. Phillip R. Pittman, the physician who is the study's principal investigator, told The (Frederick) News Post.

About 1,150 eligible subjects are participating in the study, equal to about one-third of those who would have been eligible within the study's parameters. Information obtained from these subjects through April is currently being tabulated, and Pittman expects the study's results to be published as early as January 2006.

Soldiers at Fort Detrick can, and many do, receive numerous vaccines throughout the course of their employment, including some that are still in clinical testing before they may be approved for administration to a wider population.

About 38 vaccinations, including the AVA, were part of the SIP being looked at in the latest study. The SIP list changes on a routine basis as more and newer vaccines are tested in clinical trials.

The vaccines are typically given to immunize the fort's most at-risk personnel and soldiers who may contract more obscure diseases in the field.

Past studies Pittman has worked on so far have shown a higher incidence of adverse reactions to the AVA in women than in men. Further study showed that the AVA likely could be administered in fewer doses as well as intramuscularly in order to prevent adverse reaction while maintaining its full immunization potential.

As a result of that study, the Army is now waiting for information from the Food and Drug Administration that will determine whether reduced dosages of the AVA could be administered to all who receive it, which would improve the delivery of the vaccine and decrease the number of overall shots, Pittman said.

The Army has an interest in continuing the use of the AVA, especially in light of the fact that anthrax compounds have been used in bioterrorism events, Pittman said.

"We've been using it here for over 30 years - in fact, before it was actually licensed in 1970," he said. "We think that it is safe. There have actually been more studies of this vaccine than any other in terms of evaluating safety."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)