Gardasil Side Effects, Controversy

By Amanda Woodruff | The News Record

Published: Sunday, February 8, 2009

Updated: Friday, November 20, 2009

The Gardasil vaccine is still in its infancy after its public debut in June 2006. Yet, despite that short amount of time, several points of controversy and a handful of unpleasant side effects have hit the public and people want an explanation, now.

The vaccine, produced in a competition-free market by Merck & Co. Inc., is the only one of its kind thus far. Its purpose is to protect women against diseases caused by four types of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and is administered to women between ages nine and 26.

Some of these diseases include cervical or vulvar cancer and genital warts.
The side effects as listed in the patient product information release range from headache, dizziness and fainting to hives or a rash, to chills, stomachaches and seizures. Anaphylaxis, which is a fatal allergic reaction, has also been reported.

This leads to reports of deaths caused by the vaccine. According to the prescribing information, reviewing the clinical trials, there were 24 deaths reported in the 25,274 subjects (only 13, 686 actually received the vaccine; the others received a placebo).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 27 deaths have been reported between June 2006 and August 2008 in the United States. The reports were not directly attributed to the Gardasil vaccine, but all women had received it prior to their deaths. Some of the deaths were linked to blood clots, seizures and heart failure, which are side effects of the vaccine.

The CDC also reported that Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a disorder that causes muscle weakness, has resulted from the vaccine.

The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration encourage users to report all side effects to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and as of June 30, 2008, the FDA had received 9,749 “adverse events” reports after the injection of Gardasil.

The CDC sent CBS News an e-mail listing important points after CBS broadcast a story about an 18-year old woman who received the vaccine and developed a serious reaction that led to myofasciitis, a painful autoimmune disorder.

“We are surprised by the number and type of reported adverse event cases following Gardasil,” the FDA stated in the memo. “Most adverse events (94 percent) reported to VAERS for Gardasil were not serious.”

Part of the controversy is in choosing to receive the vaccine. Not everyone has a choice or fully understands the vaccine.

Gardasil has now become a requirement for all female immigrants ages 11 to 26. This ruling went into effect in August 2008, and more than 130,000 immigrants will be affected.
The younger female population of the United States receives the vaccine based on parental discretion. Most nine-year-olds have never heard of HPV.

Men are also susceptible to contracting and spreading HPV, but there is no licensed vaccine for them. The FDA is currently considering approval so long as Gardasil is safe and effective for men.

According to research and testing done on all other approved vaccines, the research and time spent on Gardasil is no different.

“I don’t think there’s any cause for alarm, whatsoever,” said Dr. Daron Ferris, a member of the Gardasil research team. “Tens of thousands of patients were studied for as long as five years.”

The other points of controversy lie in necessity and safety. Some parents do not see reason to administer a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease to their children. Another point is the duration of the vaccine. At this time, no one knows how long Garadsil’s protection lasts.

The vaccine is administered in three doses, the final dose occurring six months after the first. Missing a dose or not completing the sequence will not harm the patient, but she will not receive the full benefits of the vaccine.

If you have received the Gardasil vaccine or are considering it, visit www.gardasil.com to learn more and make an educated decision. Also, visit the College Living page of newsrecord.org to comment on your experiences with Gardasil.

INV.

Wed Apr 15 2009 22:03

The joint presence or toxic synergy of sodium chloride,aluminum hydroxide,polysorbate 80 and boric acid creates a powerful cytotoxic detergent that able to solubilize proteins,lipids, membranes etc. Gardasil is a trojan horse vaccine , L-histidine and PS 80 carries all the toxins ,aluminum and viral particlesthrough the BBB - blood brain barrier deep inside the central nervous system. It is like a chemical attack, a lysis on the brain tissues/neurons. Boric acid is a banned substance,also contains arsenic,lead and heavy metals. Merck is a liar, a corporate criminal. 1400hrs of data and research , I am devastated by my findings.Merck and Gardasil is all about profit, lies,
data manipulation,deception. This is a horrific tragedy. CDC and FDA paid by Merck, represent Merck interest. The
VAERS database was not even updated in the last two month. God help us all.

Kevin

Tue Feb 24 2009 15:49

My daughter of 11 has had 2 of the 3 shots. She is now beginning to have non stop muscles spasms in her right arm and shoulder. Another girl has had black outs as well as continually quivering motions to her right side. Should this be an alarm and what should we do about it. Have seen specialists and all test blood, mri, cat have come back normal. The children are now beginning to have headaches and can not concentrate in scholl thus missing alot! Please help

Augst

Mon Feb 16 2009 09:56

Since you are not willing to do the math, we are talking about a lot more aluminum being consumed in a single day and about 3 to 4 orders of magnitude more aluminum being consumed over the span of the current Gardasil schedule (and if you think that the aluminum is instantly absorbed because it's injected you are wrong: if it was instantly absorbed it would not be effective as an adjuvant). However, you are also wrong on other fronts.

First of all, you are assuming that Guillain-Barré syndrome has anything to do with Gardasil immunizations. This implies a possible misunderstanding of VAERS. VAERS is just that: a set of adverse event reports. It does not mean that the adverse events are actually effects of the immunizations (they could be but they need not be).

Next, you are assuming that these events which you are attributing to immunization with Gardasil are _specifically_ linked to aluminum. I've addressed this already in my first paragraph. You might even be one of those folk who thinks that MMR is linked to autism no matter what the evidence is, for all I know.

Next you are assuming that the body is "designed". I can overlook this by presuming it to be a figure of speech.

Last, but not least, you seem to be assuming that there is some way of avoiding HPV other than total sexual abstinence when you are referring knowing about many ways to avoid the papilloma producing strains (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming that you are referring to the wart producing strains, rather than the cervical cancer linked strains, but perhaps I'm wrong). This tells me that you probably think that you can somehow look at someone and be able to tell if they have an infection (even in the case of papilloma producing strains, you are wrong as they need not produce warts), that you have absolutely no clue as to the prevalence of HPV infections in the general population, that you think that barrier methods are effective in preventing the transmission of HPV (barrier methods are effective in preventing other sexually acquired infections but they are less so with HPV) or any combination of the preceding (probably all).

Your name

Tue Feb 10 2009 13:15

Do the Math??? How 'bout you do the SCIENCE! Food is eaten. Your body was designed to deal with toxins in your food. Your body's first line of defense is the immune system working the way it was DESIGNED to work. Your body was not DESIGNED to deal with INJECTED TOXINS which by-passes that first line of defense!

People are so ridiculous! I can think of many more ways to avoid those TWO strains - and not a single one of those ways endangers life, brain or muscle function!

Lisa

Mon Feb 9 2009 11:50

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a disorder that causes muscle weakness, is not a mild disorder. It is extremely serious, once you have it, it never goes away and symptoms can reoccur at any time. It can cause long term problems such as paralysis or death depending on the extent of the muscle damage. To get a clear idea of the damage GBS can do think Polio. No one would call Polio a disorder that causes muscle weakness, although that is a symptom.

August

Mon Feb 9 2009 09:16

Please, you are talking about 225 mcg of aluminum per dose! To put it into some sort of perspective, you are consuming somewhere on the order of milligrams not three times in your life but every day in your food. You do the math.

Helke

Mon Feb 9 2009 00:25

I won't be recommending this vaccine to anyone. It has not been evaluated for the potential to cause carcinogenicity and genotoxicity, and has not been adequately studied for the potential to impair fertility. The aluminum adjuvant contained in the vaccine is a neurotoxin which damages/kills motor neurons. Many of the adverse events (or perhaps "reactions", even though no-one wants to call them THAT) involve "motor" problems.