According to the CDC, common side effects following anthrax vaccination include:
- Redness, itching, pain, swelling, or bruising at the injection site
- Muscle aches and decreased range of motion in the arm where the vaccine was given
- Headaches or fatigue
The Biothrax product information insert lists the following as serious adverse events:
- anaphylaxis
- angioedema
- rash
- urticaria
- erythema multiforme
- anaphylactoid reaction
- Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
- paresthesia syncope
- dizziness
- tremor
- ulnar nerve neuropathy
- lymphadenopathy
- nausea
- malaise
- pain
- cellulitis
- flu-like symptoms
- insomnia
- pruritis
- flushing
- arthralgia
- arthropathy
- myalgia
- rhabdomyolysis
- alopecia
Additionally, there have been reports of chronic multisystem disorders involving fatigue, mood cognition, and the musculoskeletal system.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, congressional hearings were held in the U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee on anthrax vaccine safety, efficacy, and lack of informed consent protections with the military’s mandatory anthrax vaccination policies. Testimony from vaccine-injured military veterans included several hundred cases where career soldiers chose to face court-martial rather than agree to be vaccinated or revaccinated with anthrax vaccine after serious reactions had occurred.
In 2002, Congress’s General Accounting Office (GAO) published a survey that revealed that 85 percent of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves personnel experienced adverse reactions following anthrax vaccination, and was significantly higher than the reported 30 percent claimed by the vaccine’s manufacturer.
This report also stated that Additionally, an estimated one in five (18 percent) of those still participating in or assigned to a unit in 2000 – that is those who had not already changed their status -indicated their willingness to leave in the near future. Both groups, those who had already left and those indicating their intention to leave, ranked AVIP [Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program as a key factor in their decision to leave or change their participation
.
In 2002 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report on the safety and efficacy of anthrax vaccine, stating that The available data are limited but show no convincing evidence at this time that personnel who have received AVA have elevated risks of later-onset health events.
The serious anthrax vaccine reactions resulting in permanent autoimmune and brain dysfunction reported included the below conditions.
- chronic disabling fatigue;
- persistent headaches;
- severe memory loss
- brain inflammation
- seizures
- cellulitis
- cysts
- pemphigus vulgaris
- endocarditis
- sepsis
- angioedema and other hypersensitivity reactions
- asthma
- aplastic anemia
- neutropenia
- idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura
- lymphoma
- leukemia
- collagen vascular disease
- systemic lupus erythematosus
- multiple sclerosis
- polyarteritis nodosa
- inflammatory arthritis
- transverse myelitis
- Guillain Barré Syndrome
- immune deficiency
- mental status changes
- psychiatric disorders
- tremors
- cerebrovascular accident (CVA)
- facial palsy
- hearing and visual disorders
- aseptic meningitis
- encephalitis
- myocarditis
- cardiomyopathy
- atrial fibrillation
- syncope
- glomerulonephritis
- renal failure
- spontaneous abortion
- liver abscess
- death.
