Fed: Defence defends anthrax vaccine program

AAP General News (Australia)
02-26-2004
Fed: Defence defends anthrax vaccine program

By Max Blenkin, Defence Correspondent

CANBERRA, Feb 26 AAP - The Australian Defence Force today stood by its anthrax vaccine,
with its chief medical officer rejecting claims that excessive side-effects stemmed from
faulty or out of date batches.

Air Commodore Tony Austin, director-general of defence health services, said one shipment
of anthrax vaccine from the United Kingdom was found to have exceeded maximum temperature
storage requirements for a period.

But tests proved it had not degraded and it remained within specifications, he …