Is the HPV vaccine safe?
Before it was approved, the HPV vaccine was tested in thousands of people in many countries around the world. There were no serious side effects. The most common side effect was brief soreness at the injection site. The FDA determined that the vaccine is safe and effective for females aged 9 to 26 years. By 2008, more than 8 million girls and women had received the vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA monitor the safety of all U.S. vaccines. As of April 30, 2008, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a national reporting system that monitors reports of potential side effects following vaccination, had received a total of 7,802 reports of potential side effects following HPV vaccination. Less than 7 percent of those reports were serious side effects, about half of the average for vaccines overall. There have been 15 reports of sudden death after vaccination. The CDC says after careful review of the 10 reports that had adequate informati
Before it was approved, the HPV vaccine was tested in more than 21,000 girls and women in many countries around the world. There were no deaths due to the vaccine, and almost no serious side effects reported during those trials. The most common side effect was brief soreness at the injection site. The FDA has determined that the vaccine is safe and effective for females aged 9 to 26 years. By late 2008, more than 20 million doses of the vaccine had been distributed in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA monitor the safety of all vaccines used in the United States. As of August 31, 2008, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) had received a total of 10,326 reports of potential side effects following HPV vaccination. (VAERS is a national reporting system that monitors reports of potential side effects following vaccination.) Less than 6% of those reports were serious side effects, about half of the average for vaccines overall.
