10 June 2011, the following letter was sent to various members of the UK Parliament’s Health Committee:
Subject: HPV Vaccines Cervarix and Gardasil – for the attention of the Health Committee
For the attention of the Health Committee
Dear Members
I would appreciate it if consideration could be given to the undernoted points relating to the HPV vaccination programme in the UK.
The first paper above was prepared by myself as I had been asked a question by a politician ‘would I be happy if Cervarix was removed from the market’? I replied to this above but also answered the question I was not asked ‘would I be happy if Gardasil replaced Cervarix as the main HPV vaccine in the UK’? I believe the above provides information on both of these vaccines but more importantly on the HPV Gardasil. There has been a lot of speculation in the press of late that consideration is being given to replacing Cervarix with Gardasil in the UK and I wish to draw your attention to the dangers of Gardasil. The information I have provided has been taken from the VAERS Reporting System (Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System). Please note as of April 2011, 96 deaths have been reported following vaccination, including 2 boys and 21,984 serious adverse effects. It is recognised that this represents only between 1% and 10% of those victims who file reports to VAERS, therefore the true figures could be astronomical. Young healthy girls/women have died suddenly after vaccination with Gardasil and in some cases their cause of death cannot be determined. We hear every week from mothers whose daughters were ill but who did not associate their illnesses with the vaccination until they realised that their daughters’ symptoms were being experienced by so many others. This is a common occurrence.
The second paper above was prepared by my colleague Grace Filby, BA(Hons), Cert Ed, FRSA – retired deputy Head Teacher. Grace had been making enquiries of the MHRA regarding the length of time girls are ill after vaccination with Cervarix. The MHRA reply was that in their opinion side effects lasted only between 7-10 days. The above paper proves that this information is incorrect. The MHRA reference numbers are identified and this information was obtained from the VAERS reporting system on Cervarix. All of this can be easily checked out per the reference numbers and it will show that there are UK girls who are having more serious side effects which are lasting a longer period of time than is being reported by the MHRA. When you read some of the symptoms in this report you will find that many of them are recognised side effects of this vaccine. The existing MHRA database does not provide any information or reports on the experiences of girls after vaccination with Cervarix. Perhaps for the benefit of the Health Committee, it might be more helpful if you could see in the future what information is actually reported which would give you more of an idea of how the vaccine programme is progressing. At the moment all you get from the MHRA are symptoms and numbers. If there is nothing to hide then there should not be a problem of providing you with fuller reports.
Questions I would wish to raise:
1. Just how safe is aluminium? Aluminium is a recognised neurotoxin and is used as an adjuvant in the vaccine. It has been related to the “Gulf War Syndrome” and a team of scientists also found that vaccination involving aluminium-containing adjuvant could trigger the cascade of immunological events that are associated with autoimmune conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome and macrophagic myofasciitis, a condition that causes profound weakness and multiple neurological syndromes, one of which closely resembles multiple sclerosis.
2. If HPV strains 16 and 18 are eradicated then is there not a possibility of other HPV cancer related strains becoming more dominant and more virulent? Nature does not normally like a void. If this should occur then this programme will have been wasted. If the vaccine takes out two or three HPV strains, it will give competitive advantage to the rest of them to take over. The same applies with bacteria and antibiotics and there is sufficient evidence of that. Until girls go for their Pap screening then this will not be known but was this possibility ever considered in the first place?
3. Should there not be some screening before vaccination to determine those who are already infected with strains 16 & 18 HPV? If girls are infected with either or both strains then they will not be fully protected or will be unprotected. It has been reported that since the programme of vaccination commenced there has been a rise in the cases of chlamydia in Scottish school girls.
4. Should participants of the HPV programme be informed of all negative aspects as well as the positive aspects of the vaccination programme and should this not take place at time of consent when discussions can take place with their parents?
5. Is sufficient care taken with girls with a history of allergic reactions, serious health issues and on medication prior to vaccination? Cervarix can cause allergic reactions and no trials were carried out to see if there would be a reaction with any types of medication?
6. Are girls sufficiently informed that if they experience an adverse reaction that it should be reported to the Yellow Card System and how many days after vaccination would it be regarded as being caused by the vaccine?
As it has not yet been proved that these vaccines will prevent cervical cancer, we may have to wait up to 30 years to find this out then the responsibility has to rest with those who introduced this programme of vaccination and take on board questions which are relevant as the safety of our school girls is of paramount importance. I hope you will give some time to consider the points I have made above and I thank you in advance. I know girls who have been harmed by both the HPV vaccines and sadly families of girls who have died after Gardasil and therefore that is why I ask for help for there to be more of an investigation into these two vaccines. The information I have provided is all genuine and can be checked out by yourselves – I just believe you are not being given all of the facts and hope that the above provides you with information you were not aware of before. The Cervarix programme covers all girls within the UK.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Freda Birrell – East Lothian
Read the response from the Health Department, dated 07 July 2011, here.
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