Lansing - Protesters stood in front of the Capitol on Sunday to voice their concerns over the anthrax vaccine being produced by Bioport Corp.
The protest was held to inform the public about the concerns of people receiving side effects from the vaccine.
Robin Hawes said she decided to get involved after she became sick from the vaccine.
A member of National Organization of Americans Battling Unnecessary Service-member Endangerment, Hawes said she has testified to Congress on the dangers of the vaccine.
Hawes was a supply systems analyst for the Michigan National Guard and retired last year because of her illness.
She said she has migraine headaches, chronic fatigue and recurring rashes.
“I take 8 to 15 pills a day, it just depends on what sickness is acting up,” she said.
Hawes said she began receiving the anthrax vaccine in September 1998 and began getting sick a year later.
“I had No. 4 in March of ’99,” she said. “That was the deadly one for me.”
MSU alumnus and former state Rep. Lingg Brewer, D-Holt, spoke about the problems of the vaccine at the rally.
Brewer said the pharmaceutical company has not made the vaccine safe for public use. He said there is constant political pressure on the Food and Drug Administration during inspection to approve Bioport Corp., 3500 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
“My feeling is if we indeed need a vaccine, then the federal government should take it over,” he said.
Brewer also said the company has never explored the possibility of the vaccine on women.
“They never factored in the smaller size of women, it just accentuates the more problems of women over men,” he said.
But A. Thomas Waytes, vice president of medical affairs group for Bioport Corp., said there is nothing unique about this vaccine.
“There are side effects with every vaccine, this vaccine when compared to vaccine is no different,” he said.
Waytes said the military has been working to find any side effects.
“It is impossible to prove a negative,” he said. “What the military has done is taken the medical records of people vaccinated and those who were not vaccinated, both records showed them to be healthy.”
Waytes also said a panel of civilian experts have been evaluating more than 1,000 reports of adverse effects and have found no serious long-term effects.
While Waytes could not give a date, he said the pharmaceutical company is expecting a tough inspection by the FDA.
“Right now they recognize the seriousness of the issue but I can tell you now that they don’t intend on cutting any corners,” he said.
But Waytes did say there are studies being done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the effects the vaccine has on women.
“The bottom line is there does seem to be reactions in women around the vaccination area,” he said.
