As readers would know, I have been very supportive of many of Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan's health initiatives, especially his Fight The Fat campaign. However, even before I wrote about the swine flu vaccine hoax a couple years ago (in which I was proven to be right), I've been spending much time researching vaccines and vaccine manufacturers. I regret to say but I must disagree with him on the HPV vaccine, Gardasil.
While it is heartening to note that he has now stopped the mass vaccination campaign, he said that he stopped it only because of the "unfortunate uproar" by the Catholic Board. To his credit, he assures that vaccination is "completely voluntary." However, even as he states that they "educated everybody," I have not seen the ministry issue any warning about the risks involved in taking the vaccine.In a newspaper article, Dr Khan was quoted as saying that "Gardasil was safe" and this was supported by "rigorous, scientific analysis." Nothing could be further from the truth. Gardasil was a fast-tracked vaccine and all the so-called "scientific analysis" has come from the vaccine manufacturers only. In any case, there cannot have been enough time to do any serious study.
I would be happy if anyone can point to one independent (without vested interests) scientific study which shows that Gardasil is safe or effective. On the other hand, the evidence against it is overwhelming. It is ironic that while the minister states that the evidence against Gardasil is "anecdotal" (as if the thousands of young girls who have been maimed or the hundreds killed don't matter), one cannot find a single person whom you can point to and say that cervical cancer was prevented in this person because she took an HPV vaccine.
I seriously question whether those who should be safeguarding our health (and that includes the WHO) did even the most cursory research on Gardasil. If they did, they would have learnt that:In April 2011, "India called a halt to trials of Gardasil after four young girls died and 120 suffered serious adverse effects... In India, civil society groups have long been voicing their concerns regarding the safety and efficacy of the two HPV vaccines, along with the aggressive promo�tion of the vaccines and the need to inves�tigate reported deaths and adverse events post-vaccination."
"As of August 31, 2010, Merck's marketing partner for the HPV vaccine Gardasil, Sanofli-Pasteur, was officially prohibited from advertising Gardasil for cervical cancer prevention in France. According to public documentation, the Director General of the French Agency for Safety of Health Products found the sponsor of several Gardasil ads to be in direct violation of the French public health code."In Australia, 28-year-old Naomi Snell is leading a class-action civil lawsuit against Merck after suffering autoimmune and neurological complications following injections with Gardasil. After receiving the first of three doses, Naomi suffered convulsions, severe back and neck pain, and lost her ability to walk. Doctors initially diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis, which was later retracted and changed to "a neurological reaction to the vaccine."
The US has something called VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System). The following are excerpts from three reports:Report V. 356938: A 19-year-old girl with no medical history except occasional bronchitis received Gardasil and in 53 days, had "headache, nausea, dizziness, chilling, tiredness, shortness of breath, complained of chest plain, severe cramps." She experienced an Acute Cardiac Arrhythmia. Attempts to resuscitate her resulted in a sternal fracture, but were unsuccessful and the patient died.
Report V. 380081: A 13-year-old girl was vaccinated on July 17th, 2009. Ten days later, she developed a fever and was treated. However, "the patient did not recover and was admitted to the hospital on August 8th...She developed dyspnoea and went into a coma...she expired that day at around 9 pm. The cause of death was determined as "death due to viral fever"... This event occurred after 23 days of receiving first dose of Gardasil.
Report V. 339375: Thirteen days after vaccination, a 10-year-old girl developed "progressive loss of strength in lower and upper extremities almost totally...Nerve conduction studies showed Guillain Barre Syndrome." Case was "considered to be immediately life-threatening."The actual government report for each case (there are over 25,000 in the database) can be found using an Internet search for "gardasil report 000000," where "000000" is the VAERS number shown.
I agree with Dr Khan that we should "educate everybody." However, this education should include all the available evidence, not just the supposedly beneficial ones. Some argue that only a "small percentage" of girls suffer adverse reactions to the vaccine. The question is- are you willing for your daughter to be among that "small percentage" hoping for some statistically insignificant benefit?
Noel Kalicharan