(Aug.
5, 2009) School supplies and new outfits are on parents' minds at this time of
year, but they should be aware of a new danger — the aggressive promotion of the
potent vaccine Gardasil, which has been linked to the deaths of up to 39 women
and a host of other problems.Produced by Merck & Co., Gardasil is a vaccine designed to prevent human papilloma virus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection which can cause cervical cancer. Advertised as a "vaccine against cancer," Merck has poured millions of dollars into a promotion campaign that has reached to the level of school and city health officials.
But an independent study by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) compared Gardasil with Manactra, an anti-meningitis drug that is also given to children. The report said, "compared to Menactra, receipt of Gardasil is associated with at least twice as many emergency room visit reports; four times more death reports; five times more 'did not recover' reports; and seven times more 'disabled' reports."
"Catalog of Horrors"
Approved by the FDA in 2006 for girls and women age 9 through 26, Gardasil is the focus of some 6,700 unsettling cases reported by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), an agency of the department of Health and Human Services. Many of the cases seem to indicate a possible cause and effect relationship between the drug and its many problems. It is estimated that only one in ten adverse effects of such drugs are reported.
"The FDA adverse event reports on the HPV vaccine read like a catalog of horrors," said Tom Fitten, president of Judicial Watch, a non-partisan watchdog group that says that there has not been a chance to study long-term side effects of the vaccine.
School and public health officials have been pushing the vaccine for girls in the weeks before school begins, and some states have considered mandatory vaccinations.
Many Side Effects
The FDA package insert for the drug lists these possible side effects: headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, local injection site reactions, such as pain, swelling of the skin, itching, and bruising, seizure-like activity, and anaphylaxis, which is an allergic reaction.
Women in the Berwyn, Cicero, N. Riverside, Stickney, Forest Park and other areas in the western Chicago suburbs are encouraged to learn more about the vaccine, and the suitability of its use for you or your daughter by calling WomanCare Services, at 708-795-6000.