Although the general public in the United States does not receive a vaccine for anthrax, livestock owners have for many years given their herds a vaccine made of live, attenuated (inactivated) B. anthracis. But vaccines made from live cells have been thought to be too risky for human use.

Anthrax vaccine can be made from one of the three B. anthracis toxin proteins. Only 0.007 percent of people receiving this attenuated vaccine have been estimated to suffer side effects, but this protein vaccine has been suspected of being less effective for immunizing humans than the animal vaccine. The protein-based vaccine furthermore requires a regimen of six injections over 18 months, followed by annual boosters. This type of vaccination does not appeal to most people.

Since 1970, the CDC has followed studies on a more effective vaccine made from live endospores, similar to the livestock vaccine. This anthrax vaccine has not been used in the general population because U.S. health officials hesitate to use new vaccines that are largely untested.

The United States currently holds a stockpile of 10 million doses of anthrax vaccine, called the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), which is stored in case of a national emergency caused by an anthrax bioweapon attack. The product is named Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA), made by a company in Michigan, and is the only anthrax vaccine licensed for use in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The manufacturer produces the AVA vaccine from an avirulent (not capable of causing disease) strain of B. anthracis known as V770-NP1-R. The vaccine contains the filtrate-the liquid that passes through a filter-from a culture of V770-NP1-R grown in broth medium. Because the filter removes the cells from the filtrate, the AVA vaccine contains no live B. anthracis cells.

The CDC has said about the SNS, "The SNS is a national repository of antibiotics, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, life-support medications, IV [intravenous] administration, airway maintenance supplies, and medical/surgical items." The Department of Homeland Security furthermore assures communities that the SNS is capable of delivering needed supplies to any site within 12 hours.