Forced Anthrax Vaccine Barred

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Wednesday barred the U.S. military from forcing troops to be vaccinated for anthrax without either getting their informed consent or obtaining a special order from President Bush.

Concluding that the Food and Drug Administration violated its own rules by approving the vaccine late last year, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the mandatory vaccination program -- which had inoculated more than 1.2 million soldiers since 1998 -- was “illegal.”