The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) today released a new analysis of the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports of serious health problems following HPV vaccination (Merck’s GARDASIL) during the last six months of 2006.

The report follows the recent FDA warning on February 13 of potentially serious bowel blockage (intussusception) in babies following receipt of Merck’s Rota Teq (rotavirus) vaccine.

Out of the 385 individual GARDASIL adverse event reports made to VAERS, two-thirds required additional medical care.

Nearly one-third of all reports were for children 16-years-old and under, with
nearly 25 percent of those children having received simultaneously one or
more of the 18 vaccines. These combinations were did not studied by Merck.

The NVIC is calling on the FDA and CDC to warn parents and doctors
that GARDASIL should not be combined with other vaccines and that young
girls should be monitored for at least 24 hours for syncopal (collapse/fainting) episodes that can be accompanied by seizure activity,
as well as symptoms of tingling, numbness and loss of sensation in the
fingers and limbs, all of which should be reported to VAERS immediately.

“Because Merck only studied GARDASIL in fewer than 1200 girls under age
16 in pre-licensure trials, it is critical that doctors and parents be made
aware of the nature of the initial adverse event reports coming into VAERS
and that they report serious health problems after vaccination when they
occur,” said NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher.

“There are twice as many children collapsing and four times as many children experiencing tingling, numbness and loss of sensation after getting a GARDASIL vaccination compared to those getting a Tdap (tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis) vaccination. There have been reports of facial paralysis and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Doctors who give GARDASIL in combination with other vaccines are basically conducting an experiment on their young patients because Merck has not published any safety data for simultaneous vaccination with any vaccine except hepatitis B vaccine.” Said Fisher

According to NVIC’s report:

1. A majority of GARDASIL adverse events reports to VAERS involved those who suffered fever, nausea, headache or pain

2. 14 percent were for syncopal episodes with or without neurological
Ssgns

3. 8 percent experienced tingling, numbness and loss of sensation,
facial paralysis or Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

Source
National Vaccine Information Center