Health Impact News Editor Comments
Once again, we must turn to sources outside the U.S. to get an honest perspective on the Gardasil HPV vaccine controversy. One doctor who formerly worked for the vaccine manufacturer Merck predicted that Gardasil would become “the greatest medical scandal of all time.”
You won’t read any of this in the U.S. corporate-sponsored “mainstream” media, however. The only view allowed is that there is no controversy regarding the HPV vaccine, and any journalist that dares to question this view will be viciously attacked and probably lose their career.
A recently published article in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics highlights the medical ethics that were violated in bringing this vaccine to market. As a result, many young people today are being permanently disabled or even dying from the adverse reactions to this vaccine.
Lessons learnt in Japan from adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine: a medical ethics perspective
Abstract
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been linked to a number of serious adverse reactions. The range of symptoms is diverse and they develop in a multi-layered manner over an extended period of time.
The argument for the safety and effectiveness of the HPV vaccine overlooks the following flaws: (i) no consideration is given to the genetic basis of autoimmune diseases, and arguments that do not take this into account cannot assure the safety of the vaccine; (ii) the immune evasion mechanisms of HPV, which require the HPV vaccine to maintain an extraordinarily high antibody level for a long period of time for it to be effective, are disregarded; and (iii) the limitations of effectiveness of the vaccine.
We also discuss various issues that came up in the course of developing, promoting and distributing the vaccine, as well as the pitfalls encountered in monitoring adverse events and epidemiological verification.
Introduction
In this paper, we review the adverse reactions following human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in Japan, and the measures taken by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) (1) to withdraw active recommendation of the vaccine. These measures triggered domestic and international controversy. We also discuss various problems that occurred while developing, promoting and distributing the vaccine; the pitfalls encountered in monitoring adverse events and epidemiological verification; and the influence of big pharma on healthcare policy and research.
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