[NVIC] HPV Vaccine Victims Pile Up: $1.5B for Merck

[Guest guest]

HPV Vaccine Victims Pile Up: $1.5B for Merck

by Barbara Loe Fisher

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ww.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com

www.NVIC.org

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UpBeCounted.org

While Merck has pulled

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$1.5B from sales of GARDASIL vaccine worldwide,

there are continuing reports that girls are being

crippled and

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1DMK9j-d_E1m>dying

after getting the HPV vaccine fast tracked and

licensed by the FDA in 2006. Although the

roll-out of GARDASIL with an unparalleled

multi-million dollar mass media advertising blitz

has created a profitable market for the drug

company that took huge losses from Vioxx

injury/death lawsuits, the persistent reports of

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XVCX3PPmuvjHPvqT3YbGSBEz9OoFLDFCXQ==>Guillain

Barre Syndrome (GBS) paralysis, arthritis,

seizures and sudden loss of consciousness within

24 hours of vaccination continue to haunt the marketing campaign.

Last week

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BgyLSuQ18MLuvjfYgo-iAYJKzForZOQDk_u0gdrR-1GU_6pvE44cbO4=>Judicial

Watch issued a report on more than 8,000 GARDASIL

reaction reports to the federal Vaccine Adverse

Event Reporting System (VAERS) obtained under the

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A search of

the

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XMeCUzQ=>VAERS

database , which includes reaction reports

through April 30, 2008 released to the public by

the FDA, reveals nearly 6,700 reports of injury

and death after GARDASIL.

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QWSREgT4WBQHOMfniBGvA77mGW8_NmmNtEodXvDkJmRnUtnqriLLg897nKdv8zzcjsl4JWI=>Two

GARDASIL vaccine injury claims recently were

filed in the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation

Program under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.

Exactly two years ago, NVIC sounded

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P3Iw301-Y0TbEBld3kgJ5moR1Y0vq-jqzq3qOhLeQDcI15n4FwgPaSqKJzmjml1-tIw_19aWowmsSKGp\

4T663YcLsCLTdWAcU5QfjwROeWKC>the

first public warning about GARDASIL risks

pointing out that Merck had not adequately proven

the vaccine was safe and effective to give to

girls under age 16. NVIC pointed out that pre-

licensure trials were flawed because they used an

aluminum containing placebo that may have masked

the true reactivity of GARDASIL, which also

contains 225 mcg of aluminum. Like mercury,

aluminum can cause inflammation in the body and kill brain cells.

The fact that Merck had only studied the vaccine

in fewer than 1200 girls under age 16 and

followed them up for less than two years before

licensure did not seem to bother doctors working

for the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization

Practices (ACIP),

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RdQDgLXHDEHSBQ3cL-6OXUSAKA2W>who

saluted Merck smartly and promptly recommended

that all 11 year old girls entering sixth grade get three doses.

By the end of 2006, Merck had marshaled its well-

paid lobbying forces bolstered by a flashy

television advertising campaign in an

unprecedented effort to persuade legislators in

every state to turn CDC recommendations into law

and pass HPV vaccine mandates. Texas Governor

Rick went so far as to issue an

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ou76bF3hC42TgEfy2NJHApKC0LO8fnt-kjnV5CTeuS4pdY_Pw5rmy5uj7_T49k8_qScTE-w=>Executi\

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Order mandating the vaccine for all sixth grade girls.

GARDASIL had only been on the market for a few

months and nobody, including Merck, knew the full

range of side effects when GARDASIL was given to

millions of girls entering puberty. Nevertheless,

the pressure was on young girls, their parents

and state legislators to trust blindly that the vaccine had no real risks.

In early 2007, NVIC again warned the public that

there were

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OejxcDGnTE59uQ-KWQ==>significant

risks associated with GARDASIL , especially when

it was combined with other vaccines. NVIC warned

that there was evidence that giving GARDASIL

during active HPV infection may increase the risk

for cervical cancer while girls were not being

tested for active HPV infection before getting

vaccinated. NVIC also advised that girls should

not drive home after getting the shot because of

the risk for sudden loss of consciousness after leaving the doctor's office.

In March 2007, the CDC admitted that there was no

scientific evidence that GARDASIL can be safely

co- administered with other vaccines (like TDaP,

meningococcal, varicella, MMR, influenza). Even

so, without a second thought, the CDC urged

doctors to assume safety and go ahead and

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g0XUHHPK9n5JstZ80F0RAPBKrunZ>give

GARDASIL simultaneously with other vaccines.

By end of May 2007 almost every state had

rejected proposed mandates for GARDASIL vaccine

and there were more than 2,000 GARDASIL adverse

events reported to VAERS. In August 2007, NVIC

released a

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4RioEazvTItn>comprehensive

analysis of GARDASIL reaction reports to VAERS

and a critique of the CDC's universal use

recommendation. In

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gjLZJPWCTN-RwtlKxmXjCYrGq0YZsYuwibC3R6A=>a

letter, NVIC asked the CDC to warn doctors that

the simultaneous administration of Menactra with

GARDASIL increases the risk for GBS and other serious adverse event reports.

The CDC chose to blow off NVIC's report and do nothing.

Two years after licensure, it is clear that

GARDASIL has plenty of risks for young girls.

Among the more than 130 GARDASIL reaction reports

that have been filed with NVIC's 26-year old

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eCWrVf4=>Vaccine

Reaction Registry is one that was posted by a

mother, who witnessed what happened to her

daughter on the

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al

Memorial for Vaccine Victims.

's mother describes her daughter as " a

beautiful, active girl that was brought down. "

Only 14 when she was vaccinated, " became

weak, tired and sick to her stomach " but the

symptoms subsided. One week after the second HPV

vaccination, her legs " became very weak and she

started losing feeling in her feet. " She was

hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit for four

days with a diagnosis of Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

's mother said " The doctors thought we were

CRAZY when we mentioned that the HPV vaccine could cause this. "

" is constantly sick, " says her Mom.

" Something has suppressed her immune system so

badly she can barely function. The depression got

really bad because she is experiencing a lot of

pain in her knees now and can't do any sports.

She was once very active and right now can barely

go to school We were told me her doctors that

there is nothing more that they can do and that

she could use a good psychiatrist. "

How many more girls like and her mother

have had their futures stolen by a vaccine that

is supposed to prevent a viral infection that is

cleared without any residual effects by more than

90 percent of all who get it to prevent a cancer

that causes

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than 1 percent of all new cancer cases and cancer

deaths in the U.S. every year? Did and her

mother know that cervical cancer can be prevented

nearly 100 percent of the time with annual pap

smears and early intervention when pre-cancerous

cervical lesions are diagnosed?

Or did 's Mom believe would be " one

less " because a pediatrician told her so?

NVIC continues to receive reports from grieving

mothers and fathers who can't find doctors to

treat their once-healthy daughters who are now

chronically ill and disabled after being injected

with GARDASIL. In almost every case, the doctors

are denying the vaccine had anything to do with what happened.

The tragic denial by the medical profession of

the harm vaccines can do continues decade after

decade after decade. When will doctors stop being

marketers of pharmaceutical products and

implementers of government policy and embrace the

moral imperative to " first, do no harm? "

The " its all a coincidence " defense mounted by

doctors when something bad happens after

vaccination is illogical, unscientific and

dangerous. When will Americans get up off their

knees and stop worshipping men and women in white

coats who do not know what they are doing?

__________________________________________

" Kimzey started suffering debilitating

headaches, fainting spells and arthritis-like

stiffness last November. Six weeks later, the

14-year-old Dallas resident became so dizzy she

could barely walk. She was hospitalized and

missed three weeks of school. Then, she had a

seizure. For weeks, she bounced back and forth

between specialists and was eventually diagnosed

with epilepsy. 's mother,

Kimzey, now believes her daughter's symptoms were

caused by a new vaccine that was supposed to

protect her against cervical cancer...... The HPV

vaccine has generated debate across the country

and in Texas. Gov. Rick issued an executive

order in February 2007 requiring that all

sixth-grade girls get the HPV shot. But angry

parents and conservative groups fought the

mandate, fearing it condoned premarital sex and

took away parental rights. The Legislature

defeated the order last April. The National

Vaccine Information Center heralded the decision,

saying that testing of the vaccine was not

extensive enough in girls under 12. The nonprofit

center had already started warning about the

possibility of adverse reactions such as extreme

fatigue, arthritis and loss of consciousness.

Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of

the center, said she's frustrated that the CDC

has " assumed safety " for Gardasil, which has been

tested only in conjunction with the vaccine for

Hepatitis B. Today, girls often receive the

Gardasil shot at the same time as a meningitis

vaccine and another new booster that immunizes

against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. The

FDA has approved all the vaccines separately, but

studies on administering them together are still

ongoing. " Not only was Gardasil put on the fast

track and licensed quickly, " said Ms. Fisher,

" but to say safety is assumed and you can give

any vaccine with it is even more shocking. " -

Myers, Dallas Morning News (June 6, 2008)

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//www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/local

news/stories/DN- vaccine_06met.ART.North.Edition1.46ef875.html

" Gardasil has been a shot in the arm for

pharmaceutical giant Merck. The company had been

reeling from the withdrawal of its anti-arthritis

drug Vioxx because of increased risk of heart

attacks and resulting lawsuits. Now, however,

Merck's new vaccine against the human papilloma

virus (HPV) - aimed at combating cervical cancer

- has been deployed worldwide, earning an

estimated $1.5 billion in sales. But the drug is

coming under increasing fire from anti-vaccine

activists. Already very vocal about childhood

innoculations, now they are expressing concern

about the effects of Merck's drug on young girls,

a primary focus of the company's big ad

campaign..... " This issue is not going away as

more and more vaccines are brought to the

market, " Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the

National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) who

became an activist after a serious reaction in

her son to a DPT vaccine (a combined innoculation

against Diptheria, Whooping Cough - pertussis -

and Tetanus). Fisher, who has served on an

Federal Drug Administration consumer advisory

committee on vaccines, takes issue with the CDC's

read of the VAERS Gardasil reports. Her

organization, NVIC, has called on the CDC and FDA

to warn the public that Gardasil has been

associated with at least 15 cases of

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune

disorder; and it says there is an increased risk

for GBS when Gardasil is co- administered with

other vaccines, particularly Menactra, a

meningitis vaccine....NVIC is concerned about the

growing number of vaccinations required by

schools and the push, in some public health

quarters, to mandate more vaccines. The political

fight has been taken to New York and New Jersey.

New York state public health officials have

endorsed state legislation that would take the

CDC's recommended vaccine list for children and

declare it to be mandatory, Fisher says, and she

sees that as a move that should alarm parents.

Vaccinations should be voluntary, Fisher says,

and be made with " informed consent " by parents. "

- Hylton-Austin, Time/CNN (June 19, 2008)

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WRyrpJvZBb_HTKj9Hw0sHIg4Ft8BBhbNaT6iSkAHNqlTebs2Zw==>http://www.time.com/time/he\

alth/artic

le/0,8599,1816507,00.html

" Judicial Watch, the public interest group that

investigates and prosecutes government

corruption, today released a report based on new

documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the

Freedom of Information Act, detailing reports of

adverse reactions to the vaccination for human

papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil. The adverse

reactions include 10 deaths since September,

2007. (The total number of death reports is at

least 18 and as many as 20.) The FDA also

produced 140 " serious " reports (27 of which were

categorized as " life threatening " ), 10

spontaneous abortions and six cases of

Guillain-Barre Syndrome - all since January

2008. " - Judicial Watch (June 30, 2008)

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h.org/news/2008/jun/judicial-

watch-uncovers-new-fda-records-detailing-ten-new- deaths-140-serious-adverse-e

" About a month after being vaccinated against the

cervical cancer-causing HPV virus, 13- year-old

Tetlock missed the lowest hurdle in gym

class, the first hint of the degenerative muscle

disease that, 15 months later, has left the

previously healthy teenager nearly completely

paralyzed....Her father, Philip Tetlock, a

psychology professor at UC- Berkeley's Haas

School of Business, has embarked on an odyssey to

find out whether the vaccine or random

coincidence is to blame..... Tetlock, though,

wonders if carries genes that predisposed

her to problems with the Gardasil vaccine. At age

10, developed a rare skin disease called

pityriasis lichenoides that's thought to be

triggered by an overactive immune system, and her

grandmother died of a nervous system disease.

Could it be that certain genetic tendencies make

some people more likely to develop severe

reactions from vaccines?.... endures

terrible suffering each day. " ..... " She must

watch her capacity to control her own body

gradually ebb away-and each day her hopes of ever

having a normal human life recede ever further

into memory. The disease is cruel beyond belief. "

- Deborah Kotz, US News & World Report (July 2,

2008)

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1DMK9j-d_E1m>http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-

women/2008/07/02/is-hpv-vaccine-to-blame-for-a- teens-paralysis.html

" Lawyers last month filed the first two claims on

behalf of girls with ailments blamed on Gardasil

under a federal program to compensate victims of

vaccine-caused illness, The Post has learned.

Both girls got the injections at their middle

schools. One is Jesalee Parsons, now 15, of

Oklahoma, who began vomiting the day she got a

Gardasil shot and developed pancreatitis, her

claim says. " It makes me mad because they're

saying how great it is, but they never mention

how many people have been hurt by it, " Jesalee

told The Post. Healthy all her life, her family

says, Jesalee has been hospitalized on and off

for more than a year. She restricts her diet,

takes pain pills and misses many school days.

" I'm pretty sick all the time, " she said. The

other claim was filed for Vega of Nevada,

who came down with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, an

immune-system disorder, at age 14 - a week after

her second Gardasil shot. Thirty others have

reported the syndrome after getting the vaccine.

JESSICA'S mom, Rhonda Vega, says the girl's lower

legs and arms were paralyzed, but she's learned

to walk again. " Protecting girls against cervical

cancer is a fabulous thing, but if this is what's

going to happen, they need to research it more, "

she said......Merck spokeswoman Kelley Dougherty

said the company " actively monitors " reports of

side effects. " An event report does not mean that

a causal relationship between an event and

vaccination has been established - just that the

event occurred after vaccination, " she said. -

Edelman and Bruce Golding, New York Post

(July 6, 2008)

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w

ww.nypost.com/seven/07062008/news/nationalnews/f eds_warning_shot_118716.htm

GDSL

...

HPV vaccine's suspected side effects cause concern; CDC says drug is safe

by Myers

Dallas Morning News

June 6, 2008

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//www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/local

news/stories/DN- vaccine_06met.ART.North.Edition1.46ef875.html

Time

Kimzey, 14, had headaches and fainted

before suffering a seizure and being diagnosed

with epilepsy. She believes her symptoms are

connected to the HPV vaccine, Gardasil.

Kimzey started suffering debilitating

headaches, fainting spells and arthritis-like stiffness last November.

Six weeks later, the 14-year-old Dallas resident

became so dizzy she could barely walk. She was

hospitalized and missed three weeks of school.

Then, she had a seizure. For weeks, she bounced

back and forth between specialists and was eventually diagnosed with epilepsy.

's mother, Kimzey, now believes

her daughter's symptoms were caused by a new

vaccine that was supposed to protect her against cervical cancer.

The symptoms started not long after had

her second shot late last year, she said. And

they mirrored many of the 5,000 reports filed by

the public through a national database that

monitors the safety of vaccines after they are licensed.

" When you read everybody's stories, they're too

similar not to be related, " Mrs. Kimzey said.

But officials with the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention and doctors nationwide

said such concerns about the drug are unfounded

and most significant side effects reported are unrelated to the vaccine.

" The safety of the vaccine is being very closely

monitored, " said Iskander, acting director

for immunization safety at the CDC, which runs

the database along with the Food and Drug Administration.

Fainting, he said, has been the strongest negative response to the vaccine.

" There certainly have been high-profile suspected

side effects, some reports of deaths, " he said,

" but those have been investigated and they don't

appear to have been causally related. "

The recommendations have not changed and the

vaccine will remain available, he said.

, a spokeswoman for New Jersey-

based Merck & Co.'s vaccine division, which makes

Gardasil, said Thursday that the company

conducted clinical trials for 10 years and that

it remains confident in its product.

But this hasn't assuaged Mrs. Kimzey, 41. And

has refused to get her third and final dose of the vaccine.

Gardasil was approved by the Food and Drug

Administration two years ago for girls between

ages 9 and 26. It protects against sexually

transmitted diseases caused by the human

papillomavirus, or HPV, responsible for 70

percent of cervical cancers and 90 percent of

genital warts. Females are encouraged to get the

vaccine before they become sexually active.

Three shots are given over a six-month period.

The company said 16 million doses have been

administered since its approval. And it lists

nausea, vomiting and pain following the shot among the side effects.

The HPV vaccine has generated debate across the

country and in Texas. Gov. Rick issued an

executive order in February 2007 requiring that

all sixth-grade girls get the HPV shot. But angry

parents and conservative groups fought the

mandate, fearing it condoned premarital sex and

took away parental rights. The Legislature defeated the order last April.

The National Vaccine Information Center heralded

the decision, saying that testing of the vaccine

was not extensive enough in girls under 12. The

nonprofit center had already started warning

about the possibility of adverse reactions such

as extreme fatigue, arthritis and loss of consciousness.

Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of

the center, said she's frustrated that the CDC

has " assumed safety " for Gardasil, which has been

tested only in conjunction with the vaccine for Hepatitis B.

Today, girls often receive the Gardasil shot at

the same time as a meningitis vaccine and another

new booster that immunizes against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

The FDA has approved all the vaccines separately,

but studies on administering them together are still ongoing.

" Not only was Gardasil put on the fast track and

licensed quickly, " said Ms. Fisher, " but to say

safety is assumed and you can give any vaccine with it is even more shocking. "

ph Bocchini, chairman of the Committee on

Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of

Pediatrics, says there's enough evidence to

support mixing the drugs and not enough adverse reactions to stop it.

" From the data, we already know [the vaccines]

would not be expected to interfere with each

other in terms of antibody or safety, " said Dr.

Bocchini. " If we look at the number of doses

given vs. the reports, it's very clear that there

are significant benefits that far outweigh potential risks at this time. "

Dr. Bocchini cautioned that reactions that do not

occur immediately, like seizures, may actually be

caused by something else. So far, he said, there

have not been enough verifiable reports of

extreme side effects through the Vaccine Adverse

Event Reporting System, or VAERS, to generate a study.

Dallas County's Health and Human Services

officials said they have received no reports of

severe reactions to the vaccine.

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services

said it had 210 reports of reactions to Gardasil

last year, eight of which required hospitalization.

But officials said this is not an uncommon number

for a vaccine. Dr. Walsh said she will

continue to encourage use of the vaccine where

she works, the Adolescent Medical Clinic at Children's Medical Center Dallas.

" I'm still following the standard guidelines, "

Dr. Walsh said. " I don't have any worries at this point. "

Anti-Vaccine Activists vs. Gardasil

by Hylton/Austin

Time/CNN

June 19, 2008

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cle/0,8599,1816507,00.html

Gardasil has been a shot in the arm for

pharmaceutical giant Merck. The company had been

reeling from the withdrawal of its anti-arthritis

drug Vioxx because of increased risk of heart

attacks and resulting lawsuits. Now, however,

Merck's new vaccine against the human papilloma

virus (HPV) - aimed at combating cervical cancer

- has been deployed worldwide, earning an

estimated $1.5 billion in sales. But the drug is

coming under increasing fire from anti-vaccine

activists. Already very vocal about childhood

innoculations, now they are expressing concern

about the effects of Merck's drug on young girls,

a primary focus of the company's big ad campaign.

The movement's efforts and propaganda are

particularly viral on the web. One story that has

been making the rounds for the past week,

starting with a report in the Dallas Morning

News, concerns Dallas mother Kimzey, who

said that her 14-year-old daughter ,

after receiving her second shot of the three-dose

vaccine battery in November, experienced

headaches, fainting and stiff joints. A few weeks

later, she suffered a seizure and later was

diagnosed with epilepsy, according to her mother.

Kimzey said that she reviewed 5,000 reports filed

by the public on a government database website

that monitors vaccine safety and became convinced

that her daughter's health problems were related

to the Gardasil shot. " When you read everybody's

stories, they're too similar not to be related, "

Kimzey told the News. The story has been picked

up by over a hundred mainstream media websites

and by blogs and chatrooms like vaccinationnews.com.

The government website Kimzey was referring to is

VAERS - the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting

System - a program run by the Centers for Disease

Control (CDC) and the Federal Drug Administration

(FDA). Drug companies are required to report any

adverse reactions to VAERS, according to CDC

spokesman Curtis , while doctors, patients

and parents are encouraged to do so. The CDC

regards the VAERS as " an early warning system, "

said, that allows them to pick up any

statistical trend that might indicate a problem.

For health professionals, the VAERS system

provides some of the best data related to vaccine

safety, beyond that provided by the manufacturer,

according to Kahn, M.D., a pediatrician,

HPV researcher and teacher at Cincinnati

Children's Hospital Medical Center. The danger is

that such uninterpreted raw data can also be

misused. " It is very important to note, " says Dr.

Kahn, " that anyone can report a side effect to

VAERS, and just because it is reported does not

mean it was caused by a vaccine. "

For example, a study of VAERS reports of fainting

among Gardasil recipients - the medical term is

syncope - published in the Journal of the

American Medical Association this month did lead

to a recommendation that patients should be kept

seated or lying down for 15 minutes following the

shot. But says reports of other serious

side effects, instigated by VAERS datas, have

been investigated and the CDC has not found any causal link to Gardasil.

Nevertheless, stories like Kimzey's on Gardasil

and other vaccines - many picked up from VAERS

reports - continue to fly around the web. " This

issue is not going away as more and more vaccines

are brought to the market, " Barbara Loe Fisher,

president of the National Vaccine Information

Center (NVIC) who became an activist after a

serious reaction in her son to a DPT vaccine (a

combined innoculation against Diptheria, Whooping

Cough - pertussis - and Tetanus). Fisher, who has

served on an Federal Drug Administration consumer

advisory committee on vaccines, takes issue with

the CDC's read of the VAERS Gardasil reports. Her

organization, NVIC, has called on the CDC and FDA

to warn the public that Gardasil has been

associated with at least 15 cases of

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune

disorder; and it says there is an increased risk

for GBS when Gardasil is co-administered with

other vaccines, particularly Menactra, a meningitis vaccine.

But Dr. Kahn says there no evidence to suggests

that the GBS cases reported were caused by

vaccination. " Because GBS occurs, though rarely,

in young women, it is inevitable that some cases

will occur after vaccination by chance and are

not caused by vaccination, " Dr. Kahn said. " Among

9 to 26 year- olds, the number of reports of GBS

received by VAERS are within the range that could

be expected to occur by chance alone after a

vaccination. " Fisher calls that argument a

" utilitarian rationale " and said too often the

numbers are dismissed as a small sacrifice

necessary for the greater good. " How many is too many? " she asks.

NVIC is concerned about the growing number of

vaccinations required by schools and the push, in

some public health quarters, to mandate more

vaccines. The political fight has been taken to

New York and New Jersey. New York state public

health officials have endorsed state legislation

that would take the CDC's recommended vaccine

list for children and declare it to be mandatory,

Fisher says, and she sees that as a move that

should alarm parents. Vaccinations should be

voluntary, Fisher says, and be made with

" informed consent " by parents. Dr. Kuhn agrees on

that point. " Parents should ask any questions

that they wish in order to feel comfortable that

they have enough information to make a decision

about vaccinating their child, " she says. " They

should bring up any concerns that they have and

make sure that all of their questions are

answered before agreeing to any vaccine for their child. "

Is HPV Vaccine to Blame for a Teen's Paralysis?

by Deborah Kotz

U.S. News & World Report

July 2, 2008

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women/2008/07/02/is-hpv-vaccine-to-blame-for-a- teens-paralysis.html

About a month after being vaccinated against the

cervical cancer-causing HPV virus, 13-year-old

Tetlock missed the lowest hurdle in gym

class, the first hint of the degenerative muscle

disease that, 15 months later, has left the

previously healthy teenager nearly completely

paralyzed. Did the vaccine, Gardasil, cause her

condition? Her father, Philip Tetlock, a

psychology professor at UC-Berkeley's Haas School

of Business, has embarked on an odyssey to find

out whether the vaccine or random coincidence is to blame.

As father and scientist, Tetlock has contacted

top medical experts, posted pleas on discussion

boards looking for other teens who've experienced

neurological problems post-vaccination and has

been desperately trying to get the government to

open an investigation into his daughter's case.

" The weakening process is gradual so it may take

months for parents to notice what is going on, "

he writes me in an E-mail. He started a blog a

few weeks ago that shows photos of his

sweet-faced teen and reveals his anger and

frustration in the form of a box counting the

days that he has yet to get a response from the

government's Clinical Immunization Safety

Assessment Network. As of today, it's 28.

He's not the only one to raise an alarm. The

conservative public watchdog group Judicial Watch

has been periodically obtaining adverse event

reports on Gardasil from the Food and Drug

Administration. I received the group's latest

warning this week: of 10 deaths linked to

Gardasil since September 2007 and 140 reports so

far this year of serious effects such as

miscarriage and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a

nervous system disease that causes weakness and

tingling in the arms and legs. (But these reports

filed by patients or doctors with the

government's vaccine adverse event reporting

system may or may not reflect true vaccine risks.

Some problems may be missed or underreported,

while others, including sudden deaths, may have

nothing to do with the vaccine itself.)

Judicial Watch opposes efforts in many states to

make the vaccine mandatory for all girls ages 11

and 12. Those efforts have raised concerns among

religious groups that protecting against the

sexually transmitted virus will encourage

promiscuity among teen girls. The FDA insists

there's no medical reason to be worried. " We're

monitoring the safety of the HPV vaccine very

carefully, and the only adverse event that causes

some concern is syncope or fainting after the

vaccine, " says Ball, director of the FDA's

office of biostatistics and division of

epidemiology at the center for biologics

evaluation and research. Higher rates of

Guillain-Barré have been associated with the

swine flu vaccine and possibly with the

meningitis vaccine Menactra, but it is no more

common in those who get Gardasil than in those

who don't, says Ball. The same goes for other

side effects like spontaneous miscarriage.

What's more, the FDA has not documented any other

cases of vaccine-related peripheral motor

neuropathy-what has-either in the adverse

event reports filed by doctors and patients or in

the manufacturer's clinical trial data. Merck,

the vaccine's manufacturer, has dismissed the

possibility that 's condition was caused by

Gardasil. " We're aware of this case and based on

the facts that we've received, the information

doesn't suggest that this event was causally

associated with vaccination, " says Merck spokesperson Kelley Dougherty.

Tetlock, though, wonders if carries genes

that predisposed her to problems with the

Gardasil vaccine. At age 10, developed a

rare skin disease called pityriasis lichenoides

that's thought to be triggered by an overactive

immune system, and her grandmother died of a

nervous system disease. Could it be that certain

genetic tendencies make some people more likely

to develop severe reactions from vaccines? I ask

Ball. " That's an important question, " he

responds. " We just don't know. " It's certainly

going to be a topic of future research, he adds.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is

starting to look at whether those who developed

Guillain-Barré after being vaccinated share a

common set of genes. So Tetlock could find out

someday if his hunches are correct.

At this moment, he and his wife, Barbara Mellers,

also a professor at Berkeley, are focused on

being with their daughter as she struggles to

breathe on her own. " endures terrible

suffering each day, " Tetlock tells me via E-mail.

" She must watch her capacity to control her own

body gradually ebb away- and each day her hopes

of ever having a normal human life recede ever

further into memory. The disease is cruel beyond belief. "

As a parent, I've wrestled with whether or when

to get my 12-year-old daughter vaccinated against

HPV. As much as vaccines are vital in protecting

against life- threatening infectious diseases,

they do, indeed, have the potential to cause

harm-however rare that may be. Evidence is

mounting that the mercury-based vaccine

preservative thimerosal could trigger autism in

certain susceptible kids, as my colleague

Bernadine Healy previously reported. We don't

know yet whether 's illness is linked to

Gardasil, though it's certainly plausible given

the timing of symptoms several weeks after

vaccination, which is when vaccine-related

neurological problems typically occur. I'm not

sure whether 's case has changed my opinion

about the value of Gardasil. But it certainly has given me pause.

FEDS' WARNING SHOT

GARDASIL Cancer Vaccine Probed For Link To 18 Deaths

New York Post

by Edelman and Bruce Golding

July 6, 2008

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ww.nypost.com/seven/07062008/news/nationalnews/f eds_warning_shot_118716.htm

GARDASIL - a new cervical-cancer vaccine heavily

marketed to young girls in ubiquitous ads on TV

and in movie theaters - is under investigation

for possible links to paralysis, seizures, and 18 deaths.

Federal health officials have logged 8,000

" adverse events " in girls and women injected with

the Merck & Co. vaccine introduced two years ago,

more than 500 of them from New York.

And lawyers last month filed the first two claims

on behalf of girls with ailments blamed on

Gardasil under a federal program to compensate

victims of vaccine-caused illness, The Post has learned.

Both girls got the injections at their middle schools.

One is Jesalee Parsons, now 15, of Oklahoma, who

began vomiting the day she got a Gardasil shot

and developed pancreatitis, her claim says.

" It makes me mad because they're saying how great

it is, but they never mention how many people

have been hurt by it, " Jesalee told The Post.

Healthy all her life, her family says, Jesalee

has been hospitalized on and off for more than a

year. She restricts her diet, takes pain pills and misses many school days.

" I'm pretty sick all the time, " she said.

The other claim was filed for Vega of

Nevada, who came down with Guillain-Barré

Syndrome, an immune-system disorder, at age 14 -

a week after her second Gardasil shot.

Thirty others have reported the syndrome after getting the vaccine.

JESSICA'S mom, Rhonda Vega, says the girl's lower

legs and arms were paralyzed, but she's learned

to walk again. " Protecting girls against cervical

cancer is a fabulous thing, but if this is what's

going to happen, they need to research it more, " she said.

In Florida, the mother of 13-year-old Brittany

Le said her daughter suffered headaches and

lethargy after a Gardasil shot last Aug. 13. On

Sept. 2, Brittany's left leg became paralyzed.

After months on a walker, she limps.

Her pediatrician " highly recommended " the

vaccination, mom Bell said. " He told me

it was a cancer preventative. I thought it was

the right thing to do. You see it advertised on TV every 15 minutes. "

Brittany's case is one of six being prepared for

filing by Boston vaccine lawyer Conway. He

said other cases include " paralysis, seizures and brain damage. "

Gardasil was licensed by the Food and Drug

Administration in June 2006 for females ages 9 to

26. Sold worldwide, it's been given to more than

8 million US girls and women, Merck says.

The vaccine is aimed at warding off strains of

the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can lead

to cancer. The vaccinations cost a total $360.

Securities and Exchange Commission documents show

Merck made $1.5 billion in Gardasil sales last year.

ONE doctor who helped conduct clinical trials on

Gardasil told The Post the vaccine has been

aggressively marketed to girls too young to need it.

" There's a huge push for giving this to girls 11

and 12 years of age, " said Dr. Diane Harper of

Dartmouth Medical School. " There's no hurry. You

can give it to someone who is 20, 25 or 30 and

still have the same level of protection. "

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, run

by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, has collected thousands of

reports of health problems after Gardasil shots.

The fatalities include:

* A 17-year-old New York girl who collapsed and

died on Feb. 22 this year, two days after the

last of three Gardasil injections. An autopsy

could not pinpoint the cause, but doctors suspect a heart- rhythm disorder.

* An 11-year-old who suffered a heart attack in

May 2007, three days after a Gardasil shot. The

nurse who reported it said a doctor blamed it on

" an anaphylactic [severe allergic] reaction to

Gardasil. " The feds could not confirm the case.

* A 12-year-old girl with no prior medical

problems who died in her sleep on Oct. 6, 2007,

three weeks after a Gardasil shot.

DR. Iskander, the CDC's acting director for

immunization safety, said a review of 10

confirmed deaths found no common thread.

Officials " concluded to the degree of certainty

possible " that Gardasil wasn't to blame.

" It's tragic that young, apparently healthy people, do die, " Iskander said.

But he added that doctors hold special meetings

weekly to review new cases, and compare them to prior ones.

Fainting is the main symptom linked to Gardasil, he said.

Merck spokeswoman Kelley Dougherty said the

company " actively monitors " reports of side effects.

" An event report does not mean that a causal

relationship between an event and vaccination has

been established - just that the event occurred after vaccination, " she said.

A Post analysis of adverse- event reports filed

through April 30 found that about 20 percent

followed injections of Gardasil, plus up to seven

other vaccines at the same time - including shots

to prevent flu, chicken pox, hepatitis and

tetanus. Almost 6,300 cases involved Gardasil alone.

Under a federal law passed in the late 1980s,

victims of vaccines may file a claim under the

Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, but cannot sue the pharmaceutical.

Last year, the government added HPV to a list of

vaccines, including polio, hepatitis and measles, granted immunity from suit.

If victims prove a vaccine likely caused

injuries, the program pays a maximum $250,000 for

death. The average payment for injury has been $1 million.

susan.edelman@...

[]

email: <mailto:news@...>news@...

phone: 703-938-dpt3

web:

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LfVLyMz_W8PESK5hYmMky670tSbwE14gEOqvo294BTnbEevmLlhPJ6I=>http://www.nvic.org

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

Vaccines -

http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm Vaccine

Dangers & Childhood Disease & Homeopathy Email classes start again in September