Risks Of Gardasil Greater Than Benefits

GREAT BRITAIN — A recent article pubished by the Annals of Medicine suggests that the risks to teenagers taking Gardasil could far outweigh benefits from the HPV vaccine, since “proof based” studies are inconclusive and other ways to prevent the condition are available.

The full report is available at <http://vaccineliberationarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Tomljenovic-and-Shaw-HPV-vaccines-and-evidence-based-medicine-Ann-Med-20111.pdf>.

The article notes that “All drugs are associated with some risks of adverse reactions. Because vaccines represent a special category of drugs, generally given to healthy individuals, uncertain benefits mean that only a small level of risk for adverse reactions is acceptable. Furthermore, medical ethics demand that vaccination should be carried out with the participant’ s full and informed consent.

“This necessitates an objective disclosure of the known or foreseeable vaccination benefits and risks. The way in which HPV vaccines are often promoted to women indicates that such disclosure is not always given from the basis of the best available knowledge.

“For example, while the world ’s leading medical authorities state that HPV vaccines are an important cervical cancer prevention tool, clinical trials show no evidence that HPV vaccination can protect against cervical cancer. Similarly, contrary to claims that cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, existing data show that this only applies to developing countries.”

The abstract, authored by Lucija Tomljenovic and Christopher A. Shaw, notes that “current worldwide HPV immunization practices with either of the two HPV vaccines appear to be neither justifi ed by long-term health benefi ts nor economically viable, nor is there any evidence that HPV vaccination (even if proven effective against cervical cancer) would reduce the rate of cervical cancer beyond what Pap screening has already achieved.

“Cumulatively, the list of serious adverse reactions related to HPV vaccination worldwide includes deaths, convulsions, paraesthesia, paralysis, Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS), transverse myelitis, facial palsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, anaphylaxis, autoimmune disorders, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolisms, and cervical cancers.”

They suggest that physicians adopt a more rigorous “evidence-based medicine approach.”