Moms, HPV vaccine is new and untested over time on young girls. BE CAREFUL! Log onto www.VAERS.hhs.gov .
My point is that you need to educate yourself about your child's healthcare. Some pediatricians will take a cautious approach, others will not. HPV is NOT recommended for girls under 15 by its own researcher, Dr. Diane Harper at Dartmouth, although it has been approved by the FDA for ages 11+. If your child is sexually active, you might consider teaching her about condoms which will protect her from HPV, HIV, STD's and pregnancy. I worry about our kids. I do.
In May 2007, it was reported that over 1,600 adverse reactions, including three deaths, had been linked to Gardasil, Merck’s new vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV).Among those reactions, 371 were classified as serious, and, of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects including spontaneous abortion and fetal abnormalities.
It appears those reactions, and deaths, are steadily rising. A review of the National Vaccine Information Center revealed the following statistic about this vaccine: 2,207 adverse reactions to Gardasil have been reported. (Kim's Note, vaccine reports are like rape reports. Grossly underreported versus the actual number of occurances.) Among them:
5 girls died
31 were considered life-threatening
1,385 required a visit to the emergency room
451 of the girls have not recovered as of July 2007
51 of the girls were disabled Gardasil “may be more dangerous than consumers have been led to believe,” according to one public-interest group, and an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine has also raised questions about the vaccine's effectiveness.
From Barbara Loe Fisher, vaccine safety advocate: "Because Merck only studied GARDASIL in fewer than 1200 girls under age 16 in pre-licensure trials, it is critical that doctors and parents be made aware of the nature of the initial adverse event reports coming into VAERS and that they report serious health problems after vaccination when they occur," said NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher. "There are twice as many children collapsing and four times as many children experiencing tingling, numbness and loss of sensation after getting a GARDASIL vaccination compared to those getting a Tdap (tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis) vaccination. There have been reports of facial paralysis and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. And doctors who give GARDASIL in combination with other vaccines are basically conducting an experiment on their young patients because Merck has not published any safety data for simultaneous vaccination with any vaccine except hepatitis B vaccine."
Educate yourself parents. Go to the VAERS site and learn about the adverse injury reports on vaccines so you can make an informed decision for your kids. www.vaers.hhs.gov
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11 comments:
You really do have WAY more vaccines than we do in the UK. Are you sure you need them all?
No, that's half the battle. Hep A, Chicken Pox booster (because they've just discovered the first one wears off within about 5 years, leaving the kids vulnerable during school age) We wonder are there just TOO MANY going into our kids. Regardless of the shiteous ingredients.....
Yanno, Kim, I had a slight suspicion about vaccines before I started reading your blog (I'm an RN, so we preach that they're all okay, but still . . .) but I've developed a really healthy skepticism. I refused to let my Dr. give my daughter (going on 13) Gardisil -- she gave me a lot of flak, told me I was irresponsible and (basically) a bad mom. We've found another Dr.
Glad to hear the revisions are cooking along :-)
Anon, healthy questioning is your right. These vaccines are being churned out with good intentions by the researchers, I'm sure, but rushed to market, like SO many drugs today. Look at all the drugs being pulled for safety. Yet we;re told all vaccines are safe for all children all the time. NAme me another drug that has a one size fits all philosophy like vaccines? You are allowed to ask questions. Good for you!
I'm a cervical cancer survivor and would love to believe there is a truly safe way to prevent it because the emotional, mental and spiritual devastation it caused was almost overwhelming. Because of my history I've been approached to promote the vaccine but, like you, I'm very cautious about drugs that haven't been on the market long enough to be proven safe. Too many of them are later removed from the market after causing irreparable damage. More research is needed before I can uniformly endorse anything.
Easier to have boys in this case! Not that either of mine will be receiving another vaccine anytime soon. I was of the mind, "I'll delay vaccinating for Harrison for a few years" - the younger, NT guy, but after reading about a boy who totally regressed after receiving some booster vaccines at age 15(!!) I changed my mind to, "He can get vaccines for himself when he's living on his own, but he'll risk his mother's disapproval." Hopefully he'll be enough of a Mama's boy that it won't be an issue! Either that, or he'll be smart enough to research, and maybe there will actually BE research on these vaccines by then! Things like, if you have the MoTHerFuckeR gene, don't jeopardize your health with vaccines your body can't handle.
Oh yeah, and I'm sure they'll be "highly recommending" this for boys, too, as soon as possible, and before enough research is done. Twice as much money, right?
I agree parents need to do the research. This includes educating ourselves about how these diseases are spread.
From the CDC: HPV infection can occur in both male and female genital areas that are covered or protected by a latex condom, as well as in areas that are not covered.
I'm not dismissing condoms, just saying they're not a cure all. Of course, neither is mandating a poorly vetted vaccine.
since the FDA lowered its standards to get HIV drugs out faster, I've started to just wait and see what happens with new drugs. I think speeding up the aproval process started out with good intentions... but its gotten out of hand. We are now doing clinical trials on the general population.
More homework!
Cheers
Thank you Kim for posting this. I was not aware of the possible side effects. We had a woman at work who nearly died from the flu shot one year. It did neurological damage to her; she lost about 80 pounds and ended up in the hospital for 6 months. It's best to wait on these things, teach prevention, and take a pro-active nutritional approach when possible.
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