HPV Vaccine Gardasil Under Scanner

Gardasil, a vaccine recommended to prevent cervical cancerdefine is at the centre of attraction once again. The drug which was approved in 2006 by the Food and Drug Administration as a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16, 18, 6 and 11 has come under severe criticism as its recipients have complained of side-effects.

There have been more than 78,000 complaints against Gardasil which include side effects such as nausea, blood clots, genital warts, paralysis and even death. Till now 10 confirmed deaths have been reported. Gardasil does not contain mercury, thimerosal or live virus so the exact causes of the problems faced by the recepients of the vaccine are not known.

It is worth mentioning that the US Food and Drug Administration has already disapproved the use of Gardasil for women between 27 to 45 years of age. But Gardasil is the only cervical cancerdefine vaccine that has been approved by the FDA for use in the U.S. for females aged between 9 to 26.

But the manufacturers Merck and Co. disagree on the potential harmful effects of Gardasil. They insist that it is safe to use. The Centers for Disease Control also agrees to their claim. Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FOXNews.com said, “I think of all the vaccines out there, this has been thoroughly tested prior to release.”

Dr. Manny added that this vaccine protects women from a deadly disease and therefore in any case it is more beneficial than any of the side effects. But he did stress on the fact that thorough investigations are required in order to clarify things. He also said that different vaccines react differently on different individuals as everyone’s body type is different.

A teenager named Jenny has been left almost completely paralysed after taking the third dose of the vaccination. Her parents feel that there might be a connection with Gardasil but they are not sure about this as there is still no concrete medical proof regarding the same.