Posted on 09/20/2007 4:02:03 PM PDT by wagglebee
TORONTO, September 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As Canada, in large part due to aggressive behind the scenes lobbying, rolls out the not-comprehensively-tested Merck HPV vaccine for girls as young as nine, a look at developments on the vaccine south of the border should cause Canadians serious concern. In the United States a similar lobby campaign by the same company launched the mass HPV vaccination of girls beginning in June last year.
In just little over a year, the HPV vaccine have been associated with at least five deaths, not to mention thousands of reports of adverse effects, hundreds deemed serious, and many that required hospitalization.
Judicial Watch, a US government watchdog, became concerned while noting large donations to key politicians originating from Merck. A freedom of information request from the group in May of this year discovered that during the period from June 8, 2006 - when the vaccines received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - to May 2007 there were 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine reported to the FDA.
Three deaths were related to the vaccine, including one of a 12-year-old. One physician's assistant reported that a female patient "died of a blood clot three hours after getting the Gardasil vaccine." Two other reports, on girls 12 and 19, reported deaths relating to heart problems and/or blood clotting.
As of May 11, 2007, the 1,637 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 371 serious reactions. Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormities.
Side effects published by Merck & Co. warn the public about potential pain, fever, nausea, dizziness and itching after receiving the vaccine. Indeed, 77% of the adverse reactions reported are typical side effects to vaccinations. But other more serious side effects reported include paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures.
Judicial Watch informed LifeSiteNews.com that a subsequent request for information on adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine, covering the period from May 2007 to September 2007, found that an additional 1800 adverse reactions have been reported, including more deaths. exactly how many more deaths will be released in the coming days, Judicial Watch's Dee Grothe informed LifeSiteNews.com.
The LifeSiteNews.com report on the moneyed lobbying efforts of Merck in the US was reported in February. (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07020204.html )
However the Canadian lobby effort by Merck's Canadian affiliate Merck Frosst Canada has been underway using powerful lobbyists with close connections to the politicians who have signed off on massive government funded vaccination programs.
The Toronto Star recently reported that Merck Frosst Canada Ltd hired public relations giant Hill & Knowlton to push the immunization strategies using some well-connected lobbyists: Ken Boessenkool, a former senior policy adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Bob Lopinski, formerly with Premier Dalton McGuinty's office; and Jason Grier, former chief of staff to Health Minister George Smitherman.
Harper's Conservative Government approved Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil in July and later announced a $300 million program to give the vaccine to girls from ages 9-13. That of course is only the beginning of what Merck likely hopes will be a much larger vaccination of all potentially sexually active women in Canada. In August, McGuinty's Ontario Liberals, on the advice of his Health Minister George Smitherman, announced that all Grade 8 girls will have free access to Gardasil.
One of the major complaints by physicians is that the HPV vaccination program has been implemented before adequate testing has been completed. Long-term effects of the vaccine remain unknown. Many are asking why the huge, seemingly reckless rush?
At least one answer to that question comes from the fact that Merck currently is the sole provider of an HPV vaccine with its Gardasil product. A competing HPV vaccine, Glaxo Smith Kline's Cervarix, is set to hit the market in January 2008. As more children are vaccinated with Gardasil, fewer will be able to later receive the necessary repeat boosters of a competing, incompatible vaccine. Merck is in a race to capture as much of the market as it can, consuming many millions of government tax dollars.
US sales of Gardasil are expected to reach $1 billion in the first year of its availability.
The reports from the FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System detailing the three previous deaths are available here:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007_docs/GardasilVAERSDeath...
The reports detailing all 1637 adverse effects are here:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007_docs/GardasilVAERSRepor...
Merck took a huge hit with Vioxx and anti-obesity drugs are still a touchy subject after the "wonder drug" Phen-fen turned out to be a disaster.
Merck is looking for a "home run" and they figured that the way to do that would be to require that every teenage girl in the country get this vaccine.
Yep and a vaccine that prevents SOME strains of ONE sexually transmitted disease won't do them a bit of good.
For some reason, the left's idea of "safe sex" ALWAYS includes as much sex as possible and they want it starting as young as possible.
Because the test cohort went on to have children some time ago. The vaccinated group's pregnancies were more successful than than the control (placebo) group by a small (possibly statistically insignificant) amount. The children born to this experimental group also have, I think, approximately 0 risk of congenital HPV disease caused by the targeted viruses, such as the debilitating recurrent respiratory papilloma.
They have been posted before, but here are some facts from medical authorities, not blogs:
FDA page on Gardasil, including 464-page clinical review.
CDA: Q&A Concerning Safety and Efficacy of Gardasil
CDC: Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Minutes, discusses cost-effectiveness of Gardasil
As for the thousands of "adverse effects," I wouldn't worry much about those. Almost anything can be reported as an adverse effect, whether it be swelling at the injection site or perhaps symptoms days later. VAERS tracks these as very raw data and does not claim that, "Product X causes Symptom Y." Furthermore, many people have adverse reactions to needles. Combine those effects with the coincidental development of juvenile illnesses, and you get the kind of scare the LifeSite uses to get page views. Given a large enough supply of needles and volunteers, I could associate--to use LifeSite's term--placebos with Guillain-Bar syndrome, fainting, dizziness, juvenile arthritis, schizophrenia, drug use, pregnancy, dye jobs, faddish clothing, or any other unwanted outcome under the sun.
Only if SHE gets a cut of the profits.
“Affects” should be “Effects”
The FDA didn't approve Thalidomide until last year. It was distributed in the US in the 1960s on an "investigational basis," in accordance with what was then law, while the FDA rejected its application for approval again and again. After Thalidomide's teratogenic effects were discovered, the laws were changed, granting the FDA more power in such matters. Last year, the FDA approved Thalidomide for certain uses, but not on pregnant women of course.
Both the FDA and Canada Health have approved Vioxx for sale. The Canadians noted that it's no more dangerous than ibuprofen. But Merck will not bring it back to market for fear of litigation. They don't want trial lawyers getting rich off their hard work--a very conservative position, I think. Meanwhile, people who are in pain are gulping down other NSAIDs with no idea what they're doing to their hearts.
Fen-Phen was a combination of approved drugs. The combination was not approved by the FDA. Each component, if I remember correctly, caused valvular disease at a very low rate. The off-label combination of the two is what made the heart disease rate really noticeable. Mixing pills with booze, with or without the booze, is a bad idea.
Now that you have given three debatable examples of FDA mistakes, could you give us three examples of FDA-approved medications that you approve of? I bet you have more than that in your medicine cabinet.
Incorrect. The youngest test subject was nine.
THat is a risk based assumption ....lol
When I look at a relatively young person who has become frail because of obesity, I am not convinced that the side effects of the anti-obesity drugs which worked were so terrible. Some of those who sued clearly wanted to get rich. Not only did the drug companies lose money but many poor fat people lost treatments which worked.
Some of the people who died as a result of phen phen and ephedrine used used more than the recommended dosage and drank alcohol. I think the obese women who actually followed the directions were not hurt but helped. Ridding the market of working obesity pills was nanny government at its worst.
Adults should be able to choose which treatments are safe for them and which are not. I am against the Merck vaccine ,because those who are marketing ,it are forcing it on young girls.
HUGE killer????
3500 deaths in North America (150,000,000 women) annually from all forms of cervical cancer.
Many preventable with regular Pap smears.
One would think that the vaccine should be tried over a few years with high risk groups.
Innoculating the general population is very dangerous for a very small total risk.
Because women are at greater risk. If the vaccine had been approved for males first, skittish parents would refuse to vaccinate many of the boys, the girls would get it from them, and we'd be exactly where we started. At least this way, some girls will be protected. Hopefully, it'll be approved for men soon, since they're at risk for penile cancer, anal cancer, and head-and-neck cancer--not to mention passing the virus on to a woman who was not vaccinated. (Perhaps because of her skittish parents?)
Keep in mind that the profile of the patients. They are generally young and healthy. The incidence of clots , Bell’s Palsey, Guillain Barre etc is EXTREMELY low.
These are exceptions and would qualify as adverse results in any clinical trial.
I’ll believe it when I see it. The goal of Communism is to destroy the family through promoting promiscuity and easy sex. The NOW Hags ran with this in the 60’s and 70’s and now the chickens are coming home to roost. Would fear of contracting a STD be a part of a pre-teens life were it not for them having to deal with the death of their parents marriages (when their “liberated” Moms took flight, as did mine), or not having a Dad in the home in the first place? (I have a terrific Father. It’s made a world of difference in my life.)
Young girls have been the target of brainwashing for decades, and being one that lived through ‘The Sexual Revolution’ we were sold a bunch of lies by the left.
This issue is much, much bigger than a mandated vaccine, pimped by a pharm company.
HPV vaccines are not "weakened" viruses, they use virus-like particles. They do not have viral nucleic acid, and so are unable to infect cells.
Has anyone tested whether the vaccine itself can still cause cancer?
Yes. See my earlier post with links to the FDA and CDC data. The incidence of cervical cancer among those who are vaccinated decreases.
Has anyone tested how much the vaccine prevents cancer in people who are later infected with HPV?
Are you asking about the efficacy of this vaccine with respect to the four targeted HPV types? It's over ninety percent. If you mean its efficacy with respect to other HPV types, I don't know.
Note that the cervix will be the immediate location of a future infection. Will a vaccinated immune system really be able to respond quickly enough before the virus does its damage to the cervix?
Again, the incidence of cervical lesions decreased in the vaccinated test group. You are asking the very questions that were answered, over a year ago, when the drug was approved and the vaccination schedule was recommended.
No, they do that because opt-out vaccines are covered by insurance.
It's a communist plot? They've already fluoridated our water and stolen our vital essence, what more can the dastardly reds take? Oh no! They're going to take our cervical cancer, too!
Because ANY drug that will make money is rushed to market these days. It’s only afterwards they start noting the deaths, side effects etc. Don’t use new drugs. NONE of them have been on the market or tested long enough to know what they will REALLY do to a body.
They use opt-out vaccines to LIE to parents. When I went to get school enrollment information in California, they told me I HAD to get my child vaccinated. They didn’t mention that California has medical, religious, AND philosophical exemptions. Because I am an informed parent, I already knew that fact.
Parents make decisions for their children thinking they have no choice, which means they are not giving informed consent.
People who tell others to ignore adverse affects or that they are “just anectdotal” make me sick.
It’s because of such people that my nephew is severely brain damaged and has a seizure disorder caused by a DPT shot.
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