New Worries About Gardasil Safety

New Worries About Gardasil Safety
CBS Evening News Exclusive: Vaccine-Safety Group Study Shows Higher Instance Of Medical Side-Effects Than Another Vaccine

* CDC: 1 In 4 Teen Girls Took HPV Vaccine

(CBS) There are new concerns about Gardasil, the vaccine that prevents a virus that caused cervical cancer. It's approved for girls as young as nine. And five million have received it since it was approved two years ago. The FDA and its maker insist it's safe. But CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has exclusive information on some very serious side effects.

Gabby Swank was a straight-A student and cheerleader.
But that was before she became very ill following the standard dose of three Gardasil vaccinations, Attkisson reports.
You know the commercial. It showed teenage girls saying "I want to be one less" who gets the HPV virus, which is linked to cervical cancer.
"It was like a big hype among my friends, because we're like, 'we're gonna get it' because we felt almost pressured by the commercials," Gabby said.
Gabby got sicker after each shot, progressing to seizures, strokes and heart problems. It was her neurologist who suspected Gardasil was to blame.
"I think there are too many people having serious long-term side-effects," said neurologist Dr. Dwight Lindholm.

Last fall, the government and vaccine maker Merck concluded there's no link between Gardasil and serious adverse events like Gabby's. But a new analysis calls that finding into question.

The National Vaccine Information Center, a private vaccine-safety group, compared Gardasil adverse events to another vaccine, one also given to young people, but for meningitis. Gardasil had three times the number of Emergency Room visits - more than 5,000. Reports of side effects were up to 30 times higher with Gardasil.

Read the analysis by the National Vaccine Information Center.

"If I'd have known, we never would have gotten the shot," said Emily Tarsell, whose daughter, Chris, died three weeks after her third Gardasil shot. She was one of the 29 fatalities reported in two years. "And she'd be here to hug."

Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder of the NVIC, said: "Now we know from this report that there are more reactions and deaths associated with Gardasil than with another vaccine given in the same age group. It's irresponsible not to take action."

Merck, the FDA and CDC question the value of the new analysis, say they continue to review the data, Gardasil remains safe and effective, and its benefits outweigh the risks.

Those who believe the vaccine hurt them aren't convinced. Gabby isn't cheering anymore and is too sick to even attend school.

"I struggle with guilt a lot, because I made the choice to get the shot for her," said Gabby's mom, Shannon Swank.

Meantime, Merck has asked the FDA to approve it for boys, who can pass on the cancer causing virus to girls, meaning the number of people getting Gardasil may double

What follows is a statement from Merck:

It's important to remember that the proven benefit of GARDASIL is that it helps prevent cervical cancer caused by the two virus types responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. Nothing is more important to Merck than the safety of our products and we carefully monitor the safety of GARDASIL on a routine basis. Experts at the FDA and CDC also continue to review data and, as recently as four months ago, said "GARDASIL continues to be safe and effective, and its benefits continue to outweigh its risks."
NVIC is not a medical organization and has a long history of raising concerns about vaccines that are in direct conflict with the opinion of leading medical experts. We encourage consumers to get reliable information about the safety of vaccines from www.cdc.gov.<


Comments [ + Post Your Own ]

Posted by cathyl7 at 08:49 PM : Feb 09, 2009
This story needs to be an eye opener for people to listen up and get all the info you can before subjecting your precious children to ideas born from others who make big bucks to advertize and force these so called cure all shots on the public.....I work in the medical field and my daughter did not get or will never have these 3 shots...I have to agree with tuanofulano state laws and school boards demand we sometimes unknowingly put our children in the face of danger for what big business wants in the good old U.S.


Posted by qtsara at 06:43 PM : Feb 09, 2009
We have an eight grader and a freshman from Chillicothe, MO that seem to be affected by the Gardisil. One has not been able to attend school all year and the other one went on homebound the second sememster after her 2nd shot. They are in extreme pain in their abdomen.

Posted by jofabo at 05:52 PM : Feb 09, 2009
My daughter was injured by the gardisil shot. A normal, healthy 18 year old, now has to take steroids and beta-blockers just to be able to function! Shame on Merck. I wonder if the SVP''s of Merck allowed their daughters to receive the shots? I doubt it.

Posted by BADENIKE at 04:51 PM : Feb 09, 2009
My normally overachieving daughter began having an increasing number of headaches and waves of nausea after her first shot. I did not really think it had anything to do with the shot because she was very stressed about school, exams, and deadlines. Seven days after her 2nd shot she had a seizure. We took a trip to the ER and they could not find anything wrong with her and diagnosed her as fainting. (Fainting would have been OK but I watched my 17 year old daughter on the ground convulsing. And this is nothing I have ever witnessed before nor do I ever want to see again.) After the seizure the headaches and nausea were almost constant for over three weeks. She has undergone every type of diagnostic test available including a colonoscopy and other things that a 17 year old should not have to undergo. All of which came back normal. The Dr’s have all blown off my concerns that it could be related to the shot and so my daughter is “one less” possible side effect that is not being reported. I have emailed and posted on many sites including the CDC but with no response. I just think we need to let parents know that these side effects that they talk about could be more than a passing feeling or nausea.

Posted by gumby456 at 12:27 PM : Feb 09, 2009
My wife, 26, had taken the first and second doses of the injection, 3 weeks later, she had a sezuire. She went throught a multitude of tests, CT Scans, EEG''s, neuro exams MRI''s over the course of 6 months. Found nothing that would have caused the sezuire, the only thing that we can figure it was, was the Gardisill. Docotor agrees, but the tests would have had to be done the few days following the sezuire to be positive.

I am sick to my stomach to see these young girls dieing and watch Merk and the FDA sit there and confirm the drug is still safe. Obviously, it is safe in some, but others it most certainly is not. I was lucky enough to have my wife wake up from her sezuire and I would never wish the pain that I went through on someone else, let alone the pain somone will have the rest of their lives knowing that their daughters life could have been spaired.

To those that have lost their daughters shortly after this shot was recieved, I am sorry for your loss. My thoughts and Prairs are with you.
God for bid they try to inject young boys with this now.....

Posted by MSMITH678 at 11:32 AM : Feb 09, 2009
Gullible people. If the doctors or anyone who''s received a Master''s Degree says, "Thus and so..." the sheep follow...because those with Master''s Degrees are intelligent and they wouldn''t do anything to harm us.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/06/eveningnews/main4781658.shtml