Adverse medical events in British service personnel following anthrax vaccination.
The safety of the UK anthrax vaccine in British service personnel was evaluated by a retrospective cohort study of randomly selected personnel from five Royal Air Force bases by investigating adverse medical events and consultation rates for a period before and after vaccination. Vaccination acceptance rate varied from 27 to 89% (P=0.0001). In the vaccinated cohort 11.1% (n=368) reported side-effects. The number of consultations in the year prior to vaccination (P=0.04) and RAF base (P=0.0085) were associated with side-effects. Only the RAF base remained a statistically significant factor (P=0.007) after adjusting for other factors. The anthrax vaccine resulted in mild side-effects in 11%, and no serious side-effects were observed. Acceptors of vaccine did not have significantly more medical consultations following vaccination than their unvaccinated counterparts.
Enstone
Joanne E
JE
Division of Public Health Sciences, University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, UK.
Wale
Martin C J
MC
Nguyen-Van-Tam
Jonathan S
JS
Pearson
James C G
JC
D000328:Adult; D022122:Anthrax Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014611:Vaccination / Q000009:adverse effects*
D022122:Anthrax Vaccines