FOR RELEASE:  December 18, 2002

Evans Calls on Bush to Provide Compensation and Health Care for All Servicemembers Disabled Following Smallpox Vaccinations 

Ranking Democrat on House Veterans Affairs Committee Urges Bush to Treat Disabilities Resulting from Vaccinations as “Injuries” 

Washington, D.C. –– Congressman Lane Evans, the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, has called on the President to “take action as soon as possible to provide all servicemembers who are disabled following smallpox vaccination with recourse to appropriate compensation and health care in the event of an adverse reaction to the inoculation.”  Evans applauded the President for his leadership in agreeing to be vaccinated along with members of the Armed Forces, but pointed out that some servicemembers might be adversely affected by the vaccine which is known to cause side effects in a small number of recipients. 

Expressing his hope that neither Bush nor any servicemember will suffer such adverse effects, Evans noted that servicemembers who receive inoculations during “inactive duty for training” will not qualify for service-connected disability compensation and related health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) unless the resulting disability is characterized as an “injury.”  While servicemembers on active duty and active duty for training are eligible for service-connected compensation, those who are on inactive duty for training qualify only if the disability is classified as an injury or in a few other specified circumstances.   

Evans noted that one veteran who was severely disabled as the result of adverse effects from an anthrax vaccination administered during inactive duty for training was denied service-connected compensation.  If we are to ask the men and women who prepare for service by engaging in “inactive duty for training,” we must assure them that they will be protected in the unlikely event of a disability resulting from smallpox inoculations.  The Department of Defense has not yet indicated whether or not servicemembers serving on inactive duty for training will be required to be inoculated.  Evans would like to see appropriate safeguards in place in the event that such inoculations are ordered.

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