Concerned father: Be wary of vaccine

Bogalusa resident Mickey Graham said his 16-year-old daughter was a normal, healthy teenager before she was injected with Gardasil, a vaccine for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

But now the girl, who was always full of youthful energy just wants to sleep, said her father. She is lethargic. It hurts her to walk. She has dizzy spells and shortness of breath, and has even blacked out, said Graham.

The medical testing to pinpoint the source of her problems continues, but the concerned father said Internet blogs and petition sites are full of messages from parents with similar stories. There are reports of thrombosis, blood clots, strokes and seizures that they believe are related to the vaccine.

“Don’t let your daughters get the shots,” he warns parents. “They’re dangerous.”

The targeted HPV infections cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers, according to the FDA. In the U.S. about 12,000 women are diagnosed, and nearly 4,000 die annually from the disease, according to the CDC.

Gardasil, made by Merck, given in a series of three injections over a period of six months, is widely recommended for 11- and 12-year-old girls who are not yet sexually active. It is also recommended for females between 13 and 26 years of age, and can even be given to girls as young as 9 years of age, according to the CDC.

Graham said the vaccine is not worth the risk.

The number of girls whose lives are adversely affected by the drug is far more than the number that might be saved by the vaccinations, and there are other simple ways, such as regular check ups and screenings, to prevent cervical cancer, he said.

Gardasil was evaluated and licensed, in just six months, by the FDA and approved as “safe and effective” by the CDC in 2006. A government advisory panel even recommended that all girls get the shots.

Since then, states have considered, and even tried, making Gardasil mandatory. And the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did make the vaccination a requirement for young women seeking citizenship.

By Dec. 31, 2008, more than 23 million doses of Gardasil had been distributed in the United States, according to the CDC.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System had received almost 12,000 reports of adverse events following use of the vaccine. That number includes 32 deaths in the U.S.

But the CDC says 94 percent of the reported adverse events were considered non-serious, such as fainting or pain and swelling at the injection site, and experts have not found a common medical pattern in the six percent that were considered serious that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine.

Both the CDC and FDA continue to monitor, but recommend, Gardasil.

Graham does not.

He has a hurt and haunted look as he works feverishly to find out what has happened to, and what can now be done for, his child. He feels certain the vaccine is to blame.

Graham warns parents to not act on the recommendations without doing their own research first.

He said he wishes someone had given him the same advice before his daughter got the shots.