Public Health
Vaccinations and Gulf War Veterans
VA and research organizations continue to evaluate possible causes of Gulf War Veterans' chronic multisymptom illnesses, including vaccinations.
If you have health concerns, talk to your health care provider or contact your local VA Environmental Health Coordinator to help you get more information from a health care provider.
Gulf War vaccinations
- Standard series of inoculations against infectious diseases provided to any U.S. citizen traveling to the Gulf (including yellow fever, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis B, meningitis, whooping cough, polio, tetanus)
- Anthrax - about 150,000 troops
- Botulinum toxoid - about 8,000 troops
VA benefits
Gulf War Veterans may be eligible for a variety of VA benefits, including:
- Gulf War Registry health exam, a free exam for possible long-term health problems associated with Gulf War service
- Disability compensation for diseases related to military service. VA presumes certain medically unexplained illnesses are related to Gulf War service without regard to cause.
Learn more about benefits related to Gulf War service.
Research on vaccinations and Gulf War Veterans
The Health and Medicine Division (formally known as the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded in its report Gulf War and Health: Depleted Uranium, Sarin, Pyridostigmine Bromide, and Vaccines (2000) that there is inadequate or insufficient evidence to determine whether an association does or does not exist between multiple vaccinations and long-term adverse health problems.
View more research on health effects of Gulf War service.
