Whitebear
Publisher/Editor-in-chief
Anthrax jabs blamed for baby deaths
Soldiers who served in Iraq and their partners have expressed fears for the health of their unborn babies after other parents blamed anthrax vaccinations for a cluster of infant deaths.
The death toll of babies born in the small unit at 33 Field Hospital in Gosport, Hampshire, has provoked calls for a public inquiry into the Government's vaccination programme.
Since the war in Iraq last year, pregnancies at the base have ended in two miscarriages, three premature births, one still-birth and a forced termination.
In each of
he seven cases, at least one of the parents had received the anthrax vaccination.
Lance Corporal Andy Saupe's son was born 10 weeks premature with growth problems and limb defects.
The 23-y
ear
-old Army chef had two anthrax injections before he was sent to the
Gulf. His wife Alex, 25, became pregnant weeks later but the foetus did not develop properly.
In July last year, Lance Corporal Saupe delivered his son in the back seat of their car but Kye only survived for five weeks before his life-support machine was turned off.
Charles Plumridge, spokesman for the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said several worried parents-to-be had called him since the connection emerged.
"I had several calls yesterday on our helpline from mothers and husbands whose wives are now pregnant and are worried their babies may be born with some form of defect," he said.
"One woman was due in four weeks and she was very, very irate. They were all inoculated
for Gulf War Two with anthrax and all the other vaccines associated with the Gulf."
Soldiers who served in Iraq and their partners have expressed fears for the health of their unborn babies after other parents blamed anthrax vaccinations for a cluster of infant deaths.
The death toll of babies born in the small unit at 33 Field Hospital in Gosport, Hampshire, has provoked calls for a public inquiry into the Government's vaccination programme.
Since the war in Iraq last year, pregnancies at the base have ended in two miscarriages, three premature births, one still-birth and a forced termination.
In each of
he seven cases, at least one of the parents had received the anthrax vaccination.
Lance Corporal Andy Saupe's son was born 10 weeks premature with growth problems and limb defects.
The 23-y
ear
-old Army chef had two anthrax injections before he was sent to the
Gulf. His wife Alex, 25, became pregnant weeks later but the foetus did not develop properly.
In July last year, Lance Corporal Saupe delivered his son in the back seat of their car but Kye only survived for five weeks before his life-support machine was turned off.
Charles Plumridge, spokesman for the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said several worried parents-to-be had called him since the connection emerged.
"I had several calls yesterday on our helpline from mothers and husbands whose wives are now pregnant and are worried their babies may be born with some form of defect," he said.
"One woman was due in four weeks and she was very, very irate. They were all inoculated
for Gulf War Two with anthrax and all the other vaccines associated with the Gulf."