Negative side effects of Gardasil, a new Merck vaccine to prevent the HPV are being reported in the District of Columbia and 20 states, including Virginia. The reactions range from loss of consciousness to seizures.
"Young girls are experiencing severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision and some girls have lost consciousness during what appear to be seizures," said Vicky Debold, health policy analyst for the National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit watchdog organization that was created in the early 1980s to prevent vaccine injuries.
Following federal approval of the vaccine in July 2006, a storm of legislation was introduced across the nation that would make the vaccine mandatory in schools.
Merck spokesman Chris Loder said the vaccine is effective for five years and the Whitehouse Station, N.J., drug maker is not sure how long afterward the vaccine will work. Critics point out that an additional booster shot may be necessary.
Studies found that trial subjects who had already had exposure to the four strains of HPV showed higher rates of cervical neoplasia (abnormal cancer cell precursors) following HPV vaccination, raising questions as to whether the vaccine impairs immune response under such circumstances.
If our desire to protect women from cervical cancer is genuine, when would such a vaccine be ready for administration to men?
The American College of Pediatricians opposes forcing HPV vaccination as a requirement for school attendance: “We strongly oppose requiring students to obtain the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine as a requirement for public school attendance.”
Since HPV is spread only by intercourse, keeping children out of school because they have not been vaccinated is a serious, precedent-setting action. It replaces parental medical decision-making with government regulation which should be reserved for the improvement of the general public health. HPV cannot innocently be “caught” in a classroom as measles or other vaccine preventable diseases can.