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Gardasil - You could be One Less Victim What They Don't Want You To Know May 23, 2007 Contact: Press Office 202-646-5188 Judicial Watch Uncovers Three Deaths Relating to HPV Vaccine Event Reports Obtained from FDA Detail 1,637 Adverse Reactions to Gardasil (Washington, DC) -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil. Three deaths were related to the vaccine. 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. "The FDA adverse event reports on the HPV vaccine read like a catalog of horrors," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Any state or local government now beset by Merck's lobbying campaigns to mandate this HPV vaccine for young girls ought to take a look at these adverse health reports. It looks as if an unproven vaccine with dangerous side effects is being pushed as a miracle drug."VIRGINIA is the only state to mandate that schoolgirls be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus. Touted as a weapon against cervical cancer, the shot is supposed to be given to girls entering sixth grade. But this requirement is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. Now, the public-interest group Judicial Watch has given us one more.According to documents the group obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 1,637 adverse reactions to Gardasil, the HPV vaccine--including 371 serious reactions and three deaths--had been reported as of May 11. Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 had side effects such as spontaneous abortion and fetal abnormalities. Furthermore, The New England Journal of Medicine has recently published an article questioning Gardasil's effectiveness.Effective against only four strains of polymorphous HPV, the relatively untested Gardasil has little to recommend it. Not only does requiring it send a wrong message to young children, the vaccine itself may be dangerous--and ineffective.Virginia jumped the gun in mandating the HPV vaccine, and although Gov. Kaine liberalized the opt-out provision, it's still bad policy. The next session of the General Assembly should waste no time in repealing it.