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Anthrax immunization program resumes (1/12)

The U.S. military has been instructed to resume its anthrax vaccination program, following a judge’s reversal of his own injunction that had been issued two weeks earlier. According to news reports, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan last week overturned his injunction after the Justice Department proved that the Food and Drug Administration had issued a final ruling that the vaccine aims to protect against both the inhaled and skin forms of anthrax. In a memo to secretaries of the U.S. military departments, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David Chu wrote, “The Department of Defense remains convinced that the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program complies with all legal requirements, and there is now no judicial restraint on [its] implementation. Therefore, you should immediately resume the anthrax vaccination program.”