One Less

[OCNaturalDoc]

AUGUST 19, 2009

Before Back to School Checkups: CBS and ABC Report Call Merck's Gardasil Vaccine Safety into Question
By Anne Dachel

Managing Editor's note: That Jeep belongs to a Mom in NY State whose daughter died following her Gardasil shots. The Merck tagline is, "One Less." Indeed.

An article in the Journal of the American Medical Assoc. on the side effects of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, was published today and it received immediate coverage on both CBS and ABC News.

CBS News: Is the HPV Vaccine Safe?
In the CBS report, we were told about side effects resulting in hospitalizations, permanent disabilities, blood clots, and even death. Dr. Barbara Slade from the CDC wasn't really concerned and said that despite these reports, "it really isn't increased over what we've seen in other vaccines for that age group and what is seen generally in people of that age group."

Choosing her words carefully, Slade added that "the reporting on blood clots was concerning to CDC. Concerning in the way that it needs further investigation."

CBS noted that critics question the manufacturer's aggressive marketing with TV ads that downplayed side effectsand they pointed out the fact that Merck paid medical societies to promote the vaccine. CBS doctor Jon LaPook sidestepped the issue by advising that routine pap smears are also a way to prevent cervical cancer.

Merck announced that after reviewing the adverse events, they "continue to be confident in the safety of the vaccine." And the CDC and the FDA will continue to recommend its use. It looks like doctors are left in a very difficult position. Officials continue to back a vaccine that has recognized severe and possibly fatal side effects.

ABC NEWS: CDC Report Stirs Controversy For Merck's Gardasil Vaccine
ABC talked about the same problems CBS did. The included doctors who are reluctant to advise patient to receive this vaccine and ABC did mention that medical associations have been "too quick" to back the vaccine. See yesterday's LNH blog for the opinion of ABC's Dr. Timothy Johnson. Part of his commentary reads:

"For the first time in my career, I cannot recommend a vaccine for its intended population -- in this case, young girls For the first time in my career, I cannot recommend a vaccine for its intended population -- in this case, young girls."

Actually, Johnson has been leery of this vaccine for a while and a search revealed his fears being published by ABC News last August.

On their website, ABC features the story of Christina Tarsell, 21, who died 18 days after receiving her third Gardasil injection. The cause of her death was listed as "undetermined," but her mother believes it was the result of the HPV vaccine.

It's hard to understand how ABC can recognize that the HPV vaccine has damaging side effects, yet they adamantly back the CDC claim that vaccines are not linked to autism.

It's hard to understand how ABC can recognize that the HPV vaccine has damaging side effects, yet they adamantly back the CDC claim that vaccines are not linked to autism.

Finally, it should be pointed out that the incidence of Gardasil damage is grossly under-reported. The following is from a post on cbsnews.com:

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/NVICGardasilvsMenactraVAERSReportFeb2...

An Analysis by the National Vaccine Information Center of Gardasil & Menactra Adverse Event Reports to theVaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) February 2009
"It is estimated that only between 1 and 10 percent of all adverse health outcomes which occur following vaccination are reported to VAERS."

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.

Source: http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/08/before-back-to-school-checkups-c...









http://lagunanaturalhealth.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-less.html

[OCNaturalDoc]

that's part of the probem...no one knows yet.

Gardasil is a complex, complicated issue. it was released to the general market very early on without the results of many studies being released. the drug hasn't been used long enough to prove it's efficacy. i've researched Gardasil product information on the merck site, science data, research data, clinical data, cdc, VAERS and more since March 2008, and have been reporting my findings along the way. if you're really interested, it's already on lagunanaturalhealth.blogspot.com and there's some on tbd.

at this time, the best source for adverse cases is still the VAERS site....and those are only the reported cases, not ALL the cases. so we don't even know what the real numbers are.

many of the results of the trials doctors are now looking for are about safety and efficacy. part of the problem is that merck did not release many studies when the product went into doctor's offices for general public use, which begs the question -- where these tests and trials ever done in the first place? were they completed? how long where the clinical groups monitored?

vaccines generally only last up to 7 years anyway (there are exceptions, like hep b, which lasts up to 23 years, smallpox is 3-5 years, etc.). there were no studies done at the time Gardasil went to market indicating how long the effects would last. that said, if an 11 year old is getting this vaccine, she's probably going to need several boosters before she turns 37, the age when cervical cancer will usually show up. not only that hpv usually clears on it's own. only 3% of women in the US ever have cervical cancer.

there's also much controversy about mandating this vaccine for school age girls....why would anyone consider mandating a vaccine for 100% of a demographic that's too young to get cervical cancer and probably isn't having promiscuous sex anyway?

and if people think this is just a woman's issue, forget it. Gardasil's male counterpart is in the works already --- so boys will have something new to look forward to. they just used girls as the test market. by the way, hpv is spread sexually from the male population. if they were going to start somewhere, why didn't they start by innoculating the source of the disease?

this drug does not "prevent" anything. merck's claim is that it "protects against" 4 out of over 100 strains of hpv -- 2 types that cause 70% of cervical cancer cases, and 2 more types that cause 90% of genital warts cases. Gardasil does not protect from all types of cervical cancer.

there's a huge difference between 'protecting against' and 'preventing'. if people really took a look at merck's product information without all the catchy advertising and school scare reports, they would figure all of this out for themselves.

[stillgoing]

Hey Doc, do you have percentages of doses given versus bad reactions? Is there more good than bad happening? Also what's the extrapolation of how many are expected to not have cancer over the next 20, 30 or 40 years would be good numbers to examine. After all, the references are all from news sources which love to sensationalize stuff. Just saying, one person's good thing is poison to the dude or dudette next door.

[OCNaturalDoc]

i agree...it's a good one!