Is Gardasil to Blame in Teen Deaths and Adverse Effects?
Washington, DC: The numbers are staggering. Less than two years after the approval of Gardasil, the much touted vaccine supposed to prevent cervical cancer in young women, several deaths and thousands of cases of adverse effects have been reported. When Gardasil was approved in June 2006, clinical trials reassured the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) that the drug was 90-100 percent effective in preventing some strains of human papillonmavirus (HPV) that cause cervical cancer. And, just as noteworthy, its manufacturers claimed, the vaccine was all but free of side effects. Despite assurances, eighteen deaths between June 2006 and April 2008 are under investigation due to their close timing with an injection of Gardasil, and almost 8,000 reports of adverse effects are piling up in the Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System, operated jointly by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC). CDC’s acting director for immunizations safety, Dr. John Iskander, says tha
