Serious Questions About HPV Vaccine

(CBS)  The hope is that Gardasil will prove to be a lifesaver, preventing deadly cervical cancer. But today Merck's HPV vaccine is dealing with a growing number of reports of serious side effects, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

Jamie Venice passed out and had a seizure after her Gardasil shot.

"After the seizure I didn't want to go to bed; I thought I wasn't going to be able to wake up," she said.

She was lucky compared to Amanda Ratner. She came down with an illness so excruciating, she had to take morphine. Her parents, both doctors, blame Gardasil.

"She's gone from a position of being a competitive varsity lacrosse player in high school to someone who's chronically ill," her father, Dr. Scott Ratner, said.

Gardasil was approved in 2006 for girls as young as age 9. The conservative-funded public interest group Judicial Watch recently obtain more than eight 8,000 reports of adverse events reports under Freedom of Information law.

They reveal everything from massive wart outbreaks to seizures and paralysis. Of 18 deaths, nearly a quarter cited "blood clots."

Jessica Vega got the shot at school when she was 13. Soon after, she was paralyzed. It took a year of braces and treatment to get her on her feet.

Brittney Bell was 12. She and collapsed with brain inflammation and paralysis. Fourteen-year-old Jenny developed life-threatening paralysis that's resistant to treatment.

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Read Sharyl Attkisson's recent reports about vaccines at Primary Source blog.

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Merck and the CDC say Gardasil is safe and effective, and that they have not found a link to any deaths. They also say illnesses reported after vaccinations may not have been caused by the shot, and that Gardasil appears safer than most vaccines with "half the average" reported serious adverse events.

The CDC says it will continue to evaluate the data - while some families are evaluating whether their loved ones should have the vaccine at all.

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For more information on Gardasil, you can visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web site, HPV Vaccine Information For Young Women. You can also check out what the Food and Drug Administration had to say about Gardasil when it licensed the vaccine in 2006.

[fuzzysmom5]

Report Shows Rare But Serious Side Effects May Result From Gardasil Vaccine from ABC news - "Although the number of serious adverse events is small and rare, they are real and cannot be overlooked or dismissed without disclosing the possibility to all other possible vaccine recipients," said Dr. Diane Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at University of Missouri. "The rate of serious adverse events is greater than the incidence rate of cervical cancer." This statement is cause for concern.

It is a sad day when ignorant people use sham science and name calling to defend shameless pharmaceutical companies that seem to be more concerned with beating each other to the cash line, than following proper protocol to vaccinate safely. I wonder if these so called precise studies are run by the same people who implemented the antiquated VAERS reporting system run by our government that is so often referred to as a resource for statistics. VAERS depends completely upon voluntary reporting by self-informed patients and indifferent overworked health-care providers, who are often unfamiliar with VAERS. The database is outdated in design. The accuracy of information from VAERS is debatable. When a case has been reported, the mechanisms to track and monitor progression are inefficient and inaccurate. Early reported symptoms might be benign; ensuing ones, devastating. I have yet to be contacted on my VAERS report of anaphylaxis and disabling neurological symptoms in my daughter.

Vaccines do save millions from disease. That does not mean that every vaccine introduced is effective or safe. Unintended effects occur. What person with any sense can believe that medications can have devastating side effects, but not vaccines? Why do you think the government exempts pharmaceutical companies from liablility regarding vaccines? I believe a trust has been breeched by Merk in the name of money over vaccine saftey. Enough of this shell game. Without trustworthy data where is the so-called science?

Our children deserve better.

My daughter has suffered disabling symptoms for two years. After endless consultations at the Mayo Clinic and other notable clinic specialists. My child has not been given a diagnosis of an underlying condtion. The only thing left standing is the Gardasil vaccine. My child is not alone. I do not want your child to be one less healthy child.

[longdm2003]

Not sure where to stand. I had hpv been through the horrifying Leep procedures (burning and cutting away the abnormal cells on the cervix) when the conizations didn''t work and had two 25 + hour labors because of the scar tissue left from these procedures, it took me 16 hours to dilate to a 1 with my last child not only were the procedures painful but having nurses manually breaking through scar tissue trying to get my cervix to dilate not so fun either. I have a 12 year old daughter who has had two of the three series of gardasil shots so far no problems. A little scared for the third one but we have until November to get it, hoping there might be some more definate information by then. She had one in April and one in June she has had no problems with either of them. Don''t know if there is a right or wrong answer this early on with something like gardasil. It''s like anything else, in ten years it will be a miracle cure or a cancer causer, toss up, who knows.

[pbxb2]

I''m a nurse practitioner and highly recommend the vaccine, I don''t force any patient to get any vaccines, but I''m a firm believer if you can prevent a disease you should. I give the parents and teenager girls the information on the vaccine to make a rational decison for themselves. I have two boys and will vaccinate them when it is approved for them. I have seen 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18-28 year olds having cervical dysplasia which leads to cancer. They have to have colposcopies (cervical biopsies) yearly, pap smears every 3 months for 1-2 years and even Leep procedures (burning and cutting away the abnormal cells on the cervix) at a young age. If you have never seen or had a leep procedure done it''s terribly painful. I wouldn''t wish this procedure on my worst enemy. They may come up with something better in the future, but for now if I can prevent something I will try. All of our vaccines have risks, but the benefits on most out way the risks. This is the way we have erraticated devastating diseases. The CDC and FDA have not put any warnings out on this yet. I have had numerous girls get the vaccine without any side effects. The only try way to prevent this disease (and others) is total abstinence (no touching of genital parts at all). I''m sorry to say this will never happen in today''s society.

[dzylizz-2009]

When I was 26 I became infected with the HPV virus. I saw my gynocolgist every 6 months because I was sexually active and between paps it had gone from nothing to precancerous. The pain from the biopsy was unbelievable. I choose to have laser conization of my cervix. This was fine until I became pregnant 4 years later. I almost lost my daughter at 13 weeks and had to have my cervix stitched up. Here it is 20 years later and my paps are still extrememly painful.

My daughter is 15 and just received her 1st of the 3 shots. If I can possibly prevent her from having to go through what I went through...Hell yes!!!!
Maybe the shot isn''t for everyone but for all the millions of woman who have received the shot and there''s a handful of incidence I think that may outweight the odds.
I personally want to send a thanks for the vaccine.

[proimm]

It is a sad day that so called educated people are not listening to the science behind immunization. Further, it is incredible people are citing a former playboy playmate as their authority on vaccines. My generation were the ones who were exposed to polio, diptheria, measles, pertussis, mumps, and chicken pox. My brother-in-law nearly died from polio and my cousin became deaf from meningitis. How conveniently we forget the lessons learned from the scourge of these diseases. The truth is there have been dozens of precise worldwide studies (not sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies) done on the safety of vaccines. They are largely ignored and discredited. Further, if one looks at the global increase in autism in the world, the rates of autism are high in countries with low vaccination rates. The backlash against vaccination will only result in the increase of childhood preventable diseases with its possiblities of disability and death. None of the anti-immunization advocates think of the danger to which they are exposing their children or the rest of the public. That lesson will be learned when these diseases make a comeback because of complacency.

[fuzzysmom5]

It is a sad day when ignorant people use sham science and name calling to defend shameless pharmaceutical companies that seem to be more concerned with beating each other to the cash line, than following proper protocol to vaccinate safely. I wonder if these so called precise studies are run by the same people who implemented the antiquated VAERS reporting system run by our government that is so often referred to as a resource for statistics. VAERS depends completely upon voluntary reporting by self-informed patients and indifferent overworked health-care providers, who are often unfamiliar with VAERS. The database is outdated in design. The accuracy of information from VAERS is debatable. When a case has been reported, the mechanisms to track and monitor progression are inefficient and inaccurate. Early reported symptoms might be benign; ensuing ones, devastating.

Vaccines do save millions from disease. That does not mean that every vaccine introduced is effective or safe. Unintended effects occur. What person with any sense can believe that medications can have devastating side effects, but not vaccines? Why do you think the government exempts pharmaceutical companies from liablility regarding vaccines? I believe a trust has been breeched by Merk in the name of money over vaccine saftey. Enough of this shell game. Without trustworthy data where is the so-called science?

Our children deserve better.

[4marlene]

Just vaccinate the democrats. that should take care of everything eventually.

[vanitydog]

I had strain 16, almost got a historectomy, had cone surgery, went to a Chinese doctor, Guo, (google it) and virus gone. How about that !

[timc51]

Hacks!
Anecdotes are not science.
This doesn''t inform or educate the public, it confuses them. There''s no reason to assume that these diverse "adverse reactions" have anything to do with the vaccine. This could scare some people away from the vaccine, and one day some people may actually get cancer as a result.

CBS News: Scientifically illiterate hacks!

[shortyinmo]

Let me proceed first by saying IF this drug is causing all these side effects it will be pulled from the market. There has to be a lot of reserch done.

Now anyone who has raised children-do you remember sitting in the doctors office with your child who was 3months, 6months, 1 year, 2 years and listening to the doctor tell you all the potential side effects of getting your children immunized? I definitly do. It was scary as hel! Brain swelling from the HIB, difficulty breathing from the MMR. However I think it is fair to say most parents have taken that chance with their children because in the long run you want to keep them safe and rather than loose them to a disease that can be prevented, I took a chance.

I had cervical cancer, and so has my 23 year old daughter. Would I have taken a risk with her, you bet your as$. If it could have kept her from going through the things she already has been I would have.

Where is our story on men who suffer with 4 hour stiffs? Seems a little like biased reporting

[angela94-2009]

Thank you Sharyl Attkisson and CBS for providing key information to parents who need to make decisions about whether to give the HPV vaccine or not. My son was injured by a vaccine and I will go to my grave never understanding why one human being (pharma or my son''s pediatrician) NEVER told me the about the true risk of vaccines or about the untested ingredients in my son''s vaccines. U.S. Doctors are not practicing informed consent when giving these vaccines. Thank you Sharyl for being an ethical and caring investigational reporter. Keep up the exellent work for our nation''s children. We need more reporters like Sharyl Attkisson.