Anthrax Jabs for Aussies - Fuck Off

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Wednesday May 07, 2003 23:01

by Aussie

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Anthrax Jabs for Aussies - Fuck Off

52 sent home after refusing anthrax jabs
By Meaghan Shaw
Canberra
May 7 2003

Fifty-two Australian defence force personnel were returned from the
Persian Gulf because they refused an anthrax vaccination, the Federal
Government revealed yesterday.

The figure was provided by Defence Minister Robert Hill in response to
a question by the Opposition during Senate estimates hearings in
February. His office would not provide any further information about
the personnel involved.

The issue became public during February when several sailors were flown
off HMAS Kanimbla after they discovered en route to the Gulf that they
would be vaccinated against the deadly disease.

At the time, the Government said 11 naval personnel had returned but it
would not provide a running commentary on how many people were refusing
the vaccination.

Senator Hill also revealed the cost of vaccines by February 19 this
year was $1.07 million.

The news came as the Federal Government stood by a study into the
health of veterans of the first Gulf War, despite a British war pension
tribunal finding that vaccinations given to a soldier before the 1991
Gulf War caused his osteoporosis.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said yesterday it was monitoring the
tribunal's findings, but the study of the Australian veterans' health,
released at the end of March, had not found any evidence of Gulf War
syndrome.

In other developments, Senator Hill said Australian special forces
troops had left Iraq and would be home as soon as their equipment was
decontaminated in Kuwait, which would take a week or two.

He doubted a declaration of victory would ever be made due to the
sensitivities of the Iraqi people. "It's better to underplay it
somewhat and move on to the next phase of consolidating the security
situation, the reconstruction and facilitating the process of
governance," he said.

Senator Hill said he expected the cost of the conflict would fall
within Government estimates but there would need to be some budget
supplementation.

As a result of the lessons learnt in Iraq, the entire army would now be
equipped with the Javelin anti-tank missile, bought for the SAS in the
lead-up to the war in Afghanistan, at a cost of about $180 million, he
said.

Senator Hill also appeared to back a push by defence force chief Peter
Cosgrove to transform the defence force it into an information-age
military. But a bid by the army to replace Australia's ageing Leopard
tanks is likely to be rejected.

- with David Rood

This story was found at:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/06/1051987702599.html