UPDATE: FOIA uncovers 16 new Gardasil-related deaths

Documents from the Food & Drug Administration obtained by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act indicate that Gardasil, a cervical cancer vaccine manufactured by Merck that FDA officials fast-tracked for approval in 2006, may not be not as safe as its industry and government backers assured the public it was.FDA records show that 16 new deaths (including four suicides) and 3,589 “adverse reactions” tied to Gardasil were reported in the 16 months between May 2009 and September 2010. The adverse reactions included 213 cases of permanent disability. The FDA also received 25 reports of paralyzing Guillian Barre Syndrome in young girls and women who had received the vaccine.

One 13-year-old died 37 days after receiving a Gardasil shot. “I first declined getting her the vaccination but her doctor ensured me it was safe,” the girl’s mother told the FDA.

In March, I talked to two families in Maryland and New York whose healthy, athletic, college-aged daughters suddenly dropped dead shortly after getting the shot. Another girl in Maryland suffered a major debilitating stroke days after receiving her second Gardasil injection in 2008.

Emily Tarsell, whose 21-year-old daughter Christina died 18 days after receiving her first Gardasil injection, accused Merck of misrepresenting her daughter’s case in the report the pharmaceutical company sent to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System run by the Centers for Disease Control.

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