Deeper anthrax shots could cut side effects - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Deeper anthrax shots could cut side effects

From now on, military health workers will shove that needle a little deeper when administering anthrax vaccinations — but that extra pinch should prevent more pain later.

A study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October found that injecting the vaccine into a muscle rather than into the fat just under the skin greatly reduced side effects, including warmth, itching, redness, inflammation or nodules. Itching went from 23 percent of male volunteers to 5 percent when they were injected intramuscularly. Redness and inflammation went from 74 percent of male patients to 29 percent of male patients. Pain, however, went up about one percent.

“Results from a recently published clinical trail demonstrated that the intramuscular administration of anthrax vaccine significantly reduced the occurrence of local adverse events at the injection site,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Garman, Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs at the Defense Department’s Military Vaccine Agency. “This is a normal result of intramuscular versus subcutaneous administration regardless of the medication or vaccine being delivered.”

The study also found that people didn’t need as many injections, and the military has adopted that recommendation, as well.

“Changing the injection route from [just beneath the skin] to [intramuscular] may increase vaccine acceptability,” states the study, which was sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Reducing the number of doses ... may have the added benefit of increasing the number of doses available for prophylactic use.”

Garman said the reduced number of injections will save the military time, money and inconvenience.

In December, after the Food and Drug Administration approved the new technique, the Defense Department advised the services of the changes, and all of the services have now sent out new guidelines: Troops now receive five doses rather than six, and use the intramuscular route of injection.

Last fall, the Institute of Medicine’s Committee to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of the Anthrax Vaccine wrote a report called, “The Anthrax Vaccine: Is it safe? Does it work?” The committee found “no evidence that people faced an increased risk of experiencing life-threatening or permanently disabling adverse effects immediately after receiving the vaccine, compared with the general population.” However, they said some long-term effects need to be studied further, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, optic neuritis and arthritis because there isn’t enough data now to see if there is a connection between the diseases and the vaccine.

The vaccine, which is mandatory for service members in Central Command and in Korea, has been controversial because critics say the possibility of person suffering side effects is much greater than the possibility of someone actually contracting the disease — no service members have contracted the disease. At least 21 people have died after receiving the vaccine, but no one has shown a causal relationship between the vaccine and those deaths.

According to Vaccine journal, 6 million doses of anthrax were given between March 1, 1998, to Jan. 16, 2007. And 4,753 people reported adverse reactions. Researchers found complaints of injection-site reactions and other symptoms, such as fever, malaise and myalgia were similar to reactions from other vaccines.