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CDC Ending HPV Vaccine Requirements for Immigrants

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has rescinded its requirement that female immigrants to the U.S. seeking a green card receive HPV vaccination.

The CDC’s decision comes at a time when the safety and effectiveness of HPV vaccination is being questioned. To date, 15,037 girls have officially reported adverse side effects from Gardasil to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). These adverse reactions include Guilliane-Barre syndrome, lupus, seizures, paralysis, blood clots and brain inflammation. The CDC acknowledged 44 reported deaths following Gardasil administration.

Effective December 14, the HPV vaccination will not be required, said the AP, in an effort to not single out immigrants. The requirement to receive at least the first dose of the HPV vaccine, which is administered in three doses, was implemented by the CDC for female immigrants between the ages of 11 and 26 in July 2008.

Research Questions Effectiveness of HPV Vaccination

Dr. Diane Harper, who played a role in the development of both Gardasil and Cervarix, has questioned both the safety and effectiveness of HPV vaccination.

Dr. Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, was supposed to address the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia on Oct. 2-4 on the effectiveness of both Gardasil and Cervarix, but her remarks took a decidedly different turn.  Instead, Dr. Harper asserted that the evidence shows that the vaccine does little to reduce cervical cancer, beyond current preventative measures.

She argued that the incidence of cervical cancer in the U.S. is already so low that “even if we get the vaccine and continue PAP screening, we will not lower the rate of cervical cancer in the U.S.”

Could Gardasil Be Behind Two ALS Cases

Gardasil has been named a suspect in two cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.  In both instances, ALS proved fatal for the victims.

The cases, documented by the ALS Center Center at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, involved two young women, ages 17 and 20. The story of one, 17-year-old Jenny Tetlock, has been reported on this blog before.

Both young women began showing symptoms of ALS just months after receiving a Gardasil shot. In Jenny Tetlock’s case, she had received her third and final vaccine in March 2007. The second victim, a 20-year-old, developed problems within four months of her fist Gardasil injection.  The disease progressed similarly in both young women before it took their lives.

In both victims, the disease progressed more quickly than is usual for young ALS patients. Autopsies revealed the spinal cord of both victims was severely inflamed, something the researchers said is not typically seen with ALS.  The researchers believe these factors “all support a temporal association between [the illness] and vaccination.”

Gardasil Researcher Calls for Better Warnings

Dr. Diane Harper, a lead researcher on Gardasil, is now on the record stating that better warnings about its side effects are needed.

Dr. Harper served as a researcher on study trials for Gardasil and another HPV vaccine, Cervarix. Dr. Harper has also been a paid speaker and consultant for Merck.

In her interview with CBS News, Dr. Harper said that patients should be told that the benefits of Gardasil vaccination may not outweigh its risks, and that protection may not last a lifetime. She pointed out that Gardasil has been associated with at least as many serious adverse events as there are deaths from cervical cancer developing each year.

Dr. Harper also told CBS News that she was concerned that Merck’s Gardasil marketing campaign might be misleading women into believing they are getting more protection than the vaccine actually affords. That belief could cause some women to stop receiving cancer screenings after they are vaccinated. According to Dr. Harper, data available for Gardasil shows that it lasts five years; there is no data showing that it remains effective beyond that point.

Group Documents Gardasil Side Effect Reports

The conservative activist group, Judicial Watch, says more than 2 dozen women and girls died in 2008 after receiving Gardasil.

Judicial Watch says it has obtained records from the FDA documenting 28 deaths in 2008 associated with Gardasil, up from 19 deaths in 2007. Of the 47 deaths reported since 2006, Judicial Watch said 41 occurred within a month of receiving the vaccine, and of those 17 were within two weeks of receiving the vaccine. In most of the deaths the cause is still unknown.

According to the group, the FDA documented 6,723 “adverse events” related to Gardasil in 2008, of which 1,061 were considered “serious,” and 142 considered “life threatening,” Judicial Watch said. The group said it obtained the data from VAERS.

Since last June, 235 cases detailed permanent disability. There were also 29 new cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and 147 cases of “spontaneous abortions,” or miscarriages, when the vaccine was given to pregnant women, Judicial Watch said.

The group also documented 62 cases of Gardasil recipients who developed warts after receiving the vaccine.