Weigh the risks vs. the supposed benefits, and make a choice. I did not give the vaccine to my DD.
Gardasil's safety record is in serious question. As of September 28, 2010, the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) has more than 18,000 Gardasil-related adverse events listed in it, including at least 65 deaths.
As a vaccine used in the developed world, the science speaks for itself: Gardasil can't – and never will – replace Pap smears, which are the reason that the incidence of cervical cancer is so low in the US and UK after decades of including pap smears in routine medical care for women.
Today, cervical cancer is not even in the top 10 cancers that kill women every year.
As a vaccine for children, it doesn't make sense to vaccinate to try to prevent an infection that is cleared from your body without any negative effects within two years in most healthy persons, and is not transmitted in a school setting like other airborne diseases that are easily transmitted in crowded conditions.
Gardasil is designed to prevent only two of at least 15 strains of HPV that can lead to cervical cancer in those who do not clear the virus from their body within two years and become chronically infected.
There is also some evidence that Gardasil-induced immunity may wane after about five years. Pre-licensure clinical trials did not follow young girls or women for decades to find out if the vaccine does, in fact, prevent cervical cancer.
What went wrong with Gardasil is that this may be a vaccine that set many more health care consumers on a course of self-education that helped them make an informed decision about whether or not to take it – and there are several good reasons why many are deciding NOT to take it.
Science vs. Politics
First, the science: Peer-reviewed journal articles widely available on the Internet show that Gardasil is not what it was made out to be .
Consumers now know that:
• Gardasil is NOT a cancer vaccine. It is simply a vaccine for two strains of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) that in some instances can lead to cancer in some women (Gardasil's other two HPV strains are for genital warts, which don't cause cancer).
• Since there are at least 15 HPV
It is important to distinguish between HPV and cancer: Just because you currently have HPV, or may have had the infection in the past, does NOT mean you have cancer or will get cancer.
HPV is NOT cancer. It is a viral infection that can lead to cancer in some people if the virus does not naturally clear from your body, as it does for most people within two years.
Some high risk factors for developing chronic HPV infection are:
• Smoking
• Co-infection with herpes, Chlamydia or HIV
• Long term birth control use
• Multiple births
In the US, infection with HPV is very common, and it is estimated that about 20 million Americans have an HPV infection at any given time. In fact, HPV is so common that most sexually active people will get it at some time in their lives.
The important thing to know about HPV is that in almost all cases, it clears up on its own without any adverse health effects within two years in most healthy people.
Genital HPV infection that is persistent, and more likely to lead to cancer, is most common in men and women who have had multiple *** partners. According to the CDC, other contributing risk factors to HPV infection that leads to cervical cancer includes smoking, having herpes, Chlamydia or HIV (the virus associated with AIDS), or another health problem that makes it hard for your body to deal with infections.
When weighing evidence about risks and benefits, it is also appropriate to ask who takes the risk, and who gets the benefit
This has been my stance from the beginning. My doctor raised the question to me last year and I did all kinds of research on it. I don't think at this point, that the benefits outweigh the risks. There are also 2 kinds of vaccines, Gardasil and Ceravix (one is given here and one is given in Canada - the one in Canada says it prevents warts). I've seen some of my DD's friends who have had it and they have complained of being really dizzy after, even to the point of nausea. One of her friends had it injected into her arm in the wrong area (it's supposed to go into muscle or something and the nurse missed!!!). I think I'll just wait.
