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Gardisil Kills Two More Young Girls
- Jun 11, 2008 at 9:56 PM
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Alert over jab for girls as two die following cervical cancer vaccination
By JENNY HOPELast updated at 10:38 25 January 2008
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Add to My Stories A jab that could be given to hundreds of thousands of schoolgirls this autumn was at the centre at a safety scare last night following the deaths of two young women.
European regulators are investigating the "sudden and unexpected" deaths of the women who received Gardasil, one of two jabs to protect against cervical cancer licensed for use in the UK.
The vaccine has been hailed as a breakthrough by the Department of Health, which is backing an annual programme of vaccination for girls aged 11 to 13 years starting in September.
The jab is already available privately and a thirteen-year-old girl from London became the first in the country to receive the cervical cancer vaccine in 2006. Hollie Anderson's mother, Lisa, paid £450 for her to have the jab after seeing her own mother battle against cancer.
Alert over jab for girls as two die following cervical cancer vaccination
By JENNY HOPE
Last updated at 10:38 25 January 2008
A jab that could be given to hundreds of thousands of schoolgirls this autumn was at the centre at a safety scare last night following the deaths of two young women.
European regulators are investigating the "sudden and unexpected" deaths of the women who received Gardasil, one of two jabs to protect against cervical cancer licensed for use in the UK.
The vaccine has been hailed as a breakthrough by the Department of Health, which is backing an annual programme of vaccination for girls aged 11 to 13 years starting in September.
The jab is already available privately and a thirteen-year-old girl from London became the first in the country to receive the cervical cancer vaccine in 2006. Hollie Anderson's mother, Lisa, paid £450 for her to have the jab after seeing her own mother battle against cancer.
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Hollie Anderson from London had the cervical cancer jab aged 13
The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) said one of the young women who received Gardasil died in Germany while the other was in Austria. It has not released their ages.
It follows the deaths of three young women aged 12, 19 and 22 who were reported to have died in the U.S. days after Gardasil was administered, with 1,700 patients suffering "adverse reactions". There were no previous recorded deaths in Europe.
The EMEA said: "In both cases, the cause of death could not be identified.
"No causal relationship has been established between the deaths of the young women and the administration of Gardasil."
A spokesman said 1.5million people had been given the vaccine in Europe.
She said there were no plans to change advice on the use of the vaccine.
The UK vaccination programme will protect girls against the sexually-transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer.
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Investigations have begun after two young women died suddenly after receiving Gardasil
It should help cut up to 1,000 deaths a year from the disease.
Gardasil, made by Merck, is one of the jabs to be used initially. The other is Cervarix, made by Glaxo-SmithKline.
Dr Nicholas Kitchin, medical director at Sanofi Pasteur MSD, which markets Gardasil, said: "The authorities in the two countries have looked intensively at these two cases and have not established a causal link, and this has been endorsed by the EMEA.
"The fact that the EMEA is not taking any action on the back of this should be seen as reassuring that the product remains safe."
Comments:
Thank you for posting this. I made the decision not to have my dtr vaccinated and we talk about it as she knows all of her peers are blindly getting this vaccine. It is so much more important to build a good immune system.
I don't have exact article - so I am going of memory. It is my understanding that this vaccine protects against a limited number of HPV strains and that the only linked cases to Cervical Cancer came from those with extremely compromised immune systems because of immune deficiency disorders.
I see no reason for the average girl to receive this vaccination! I usually frown on newer vaccinations anyway (like the new swine flu one). Who knows what kind of side effects haven't been even realized yet?
I'm not saying it's totally unsafe...my husband's sisters both received the vaccination and are fine. But the possibility of being protected from one strain of HPV isn't enough to offset the risks, in my opinion.
(and I'm all for certain vaccinations, where the disease IS much worse than the common side effects, but my kids have both been on delayed schedules. my oldest is now caught up with the "norm", but because we waited on some vaccinations, she didn't have to receive as many of them)
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I don't have a daughter (yet), but if I did I would not vaccinate her with Guardasil, no matter how flashy the commercial is.
- BeateE
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