The Obama administration is wrestling with the thorny question of whether scientists should inject healthy children with the anthrax vaccine to see whether the shots would safely protect them against a bioterrorism attack.
At what point does it become too much? While some vaccines have proven efficacy, halting likely infections such as tetanus, measles, and other established threats, it seems reasonable to question exactly when anthrax became a similarly established, large-scale threat. No available evidence indicates that it is, or is likely to achieve, such status. Vaccination makes sense in cases wherein highly transmissible diseases, such as measles, may transition into potentially fatal complications such as pneumonia; anthrax, however does not approach that category.
