[NPInfo] Any Problems with Gardasil?

stephanie2u at optonline.net stephanie2u at optonline.net
Fri Aug 17 05:58:45 PDT 2007


My take: she had a vasovagal reaction--very common with teens. The rest of it was hysteria.

Stephanie Walker, FNP

----- Original Message -----
From: Lisa Meyer 
Date: Thursday, August 16, 2007 9:21 pm
Subject: Re: [NPInfo] Any Problems with Gardasil?
To: NP Info 

> I recently saw a young girl in the ER with a near-sycopal 
> episode, 
> hyperventilation, complaints of numbness and tingling (which I 
> attributed to 
> her hyperventilation), and hysteria (crying and rocking). She 
> had sudden 
> onset of this seconds after receiving a Gardasil vac. I 
> attributed all of 
> her symptoms at the time to a panic reaction/needle phobia, as 
> she was very 
> dramatic in her presentation and had no objective signs on exam. 
> I now am 
> wondering if I was indeed seeing a vaccine reaction, or rather, 
> wonder 
> whether all of the reported similar reactions could be explained 
> by the 
> sometimes dramatic and excitable nature of the majority of those 
> receiving 
> this vaccine (adolescent females). At any rate, we observed her 
> in the ED 
> for an hour or so, and she gradually improved enough to be 
> discharged, but 
> continued to "feel weak and shaky". She ended up returning to 
> the ED the 
> next day and saw another provider since she continued to feel 
> not well. I 
> have a hard time believing that a vac. reaction (other than 
> anaphylaxis) 
> would have such an immediate onset... Any thoughts?
> 
> Lisa
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Paula Sumner" 
> To: "NP Info" 
> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 10:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [NPInfo] Any Problems with Gardasil?
> 
> 
> > This just validates what one MD preceptor told me years ago-he 
> waits 5 
> > years after a new drug is released just in case of problems..Paula
> >
> > mmhelgert46 at comcast.net wrote: Vaccine Safety Group Releases 
> GARDASIL 
> > Reaction Report
> > Main Category: / STDs News
> > Article Date: 22 Feb 2007 - 0:00 PDT
> >
> > http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/63586.php
> >
> > The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) today released 
> a new 
> > analysis of the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System 
> (VAERS) 
> > reports of serious health problems following HPV vaccination 
> (Merck's 
> > GARDASIL) during the last six months of 2006. Out of the 385 
> individual 
> > GARDASIL adverse event reports made to VAERS, two-thirds 
> required 
> > additional medical care and about one-third of all reports 
> were for 
> > children 16-years-old and under, with nearly 25 percent of 
> those children 
> > having received simultaneously one or more of the 18 vaccines 
> that Merck 
> > did not study in combination with GARDASIL. NVIC is calling on 
> the FDA and 
> > CDC to warn parents and doctors that GARDASIL should not be 
> combined with 
> > other vaccines and that young girls should be monitored for at 
> least 24 
> > hours for syncopal (collapse/fainting) episodes that can be 
> accompanied by 
> > seizure activity, as well as symptoms of tingling, numbness 
> and loss of 
> > sensation in the fingers and limbs, all of which should be
> > !
> > reporte
> > d to VAERS immediately.
> >
> > "Because Merck only studied GARDASIL in fewer than 1200 girls 
> under age 16 
> > in pre-licensure trials, it is critical that doctors and 
> parents be made 
> > aware of the nature of the initial adverse event reports 
> coming into VAERS 
> > and that they report serious health problems after vaccination 
> when they 
> > occur," said NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher. "There are 
> twice as many 
> > children collapsing and four times as many children 
> experiencing tingling, 
> > numbness and loss of sensation after getting a GARDASIL 
> vaccination 
> > compared to those getting a Tdap (tetanus-diphtheria-acellular 
> pertussis) 
> > vaccination. There have been reports of facial paralysis and 
> > Guillain-Barre Syndrome. And doctors who give GARDASIL in 
> combination with 
> > other vaccines are basically conducting an experiment on their 
> young 
> > patients because Merck has not published any safety data for 
> simultaneous 
> > vaccination with any vaccine except hepatitis B vaccine."
> >
> > According to NVIC's report, a majority of GARDASIL adverse 
> event reports 
> > to VAERS involved those who suffered fever, nausea, headache 
> or pain; 14 
> > percent were for syncopal episodes with or without 
> neurological signs; and 
> > 8 percent experienced tingling, numbness and loss of 
> sensation, facial 
> > paralysis or Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Although adverse event 
> reports to 
> > VAERS do not prove causation, they can provide an early 
> warning sign that 
> > a new vaccine may be causing health problems that could be 
> important. For 
> > example, reports to VAERS of bowel blockage (intussusception) 
> in babies 
> > following receipt of Merck's Rota Teq (rotavirus) vaccine 
> prompted the FDA 
> > to issue a public warning to doctors and consumers on Feb. 13.
> >
> > "About 4 reports per day were filed with VAERS in December 
> 2006 for the 
> > HPV vaccine," said NVIC Health Policy Analyst Vicky Debold, 
> RN, Ph.D. 
> > "Some of these girls are being injured when they collapse 
> after getting 
> > the vaccine and others are complaining of neurological 
> symptoms that 
> > should not be ignored. Doctors and nurses should take note of 
> the patient 
> > safety issues related to giving this vaccine. Giving GARDASIL 
> > simultaneously with any of the 18 vaccines Merck did not study 
> in 
> > combination is not an evidence-based guideline and should 
> involve informed 
> > consent and a signed patient release. To avoid unnecessary 
> injuries, 
> > teenage girls should be vaccinated laying down, not be left 
> unattended and 
> > probably should not walk or drive themselves home from the 
> doctor's office 
> > after they get vaccinated."
> >
> > NVIC also found that there were several VAERS reports of HPV 
> infection, 
> > genital warts and cervical lesions after GARDASIL vaccination. 
> It is 
> > unknown if the girls were infected with HPV before being 
> vaccinated or if 
> > GARDASIL failed to protect them. One case of HPV infection 
> occurred in a 
> > 22-year-old girl who had participated in a Merck GARDASIL 
> trial in 2003 
> > when she had shown "strong conversion to all 4 vaccine types" 
> but "tested 
> > positive for high risk HPV" in 2006, according to the VAERS report.
> >
> > In a May 18, 2006 Background Document for the FDA Vaccines and 
> Related 
> > Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRPBAC), the FDA staff 
> stated that 
> > Merck clinical trial data indicated there may be "the 
> potential for 
> > GARDASIL to enhance cervical disease in subjects who had 
> evidence of 
> > persistent infection with vaccine-relevant HPV types prior to 
> > vaccination." Girls and women now being vaccinated with 
> GARDASIL are not 
> > routinely being tested for active HPV infection before vaccination.
> >
> > The FDA staff also questioned whether the "HPV types not 
> contained in the 
> > vaccine might offset the overall clinical effectiveness of the 
> vaccine." 
> > There are more than 15 types of HPV associated with cervical 
> cancer but 
> > GARDASIL only contains HPV types 16 and 18. It is unknown 
> whether 
> > non-vaccine HPV types will become more dominant in the future. 
> However, 
> > there are indications this could occur because some of the 
> seven strains 
> > of pneumococcal contained in Wyeth's PREVNAR vaccine, which 
> was 
> > recommended by the CDC for universal use in all babies in 
> 2000, have been 
> > replaced by some of the more than 80 other pneumococcal 
> strains not 
> > contained in the vaccine.
> >
> > VAERS is a passive surveillance system and depends upon 
> voluntary 
> > reporting of serious health problems following vaccination, 
> even though 
> > safety provisions in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act 
> of 1986 
> > mandated that health care providers report vaccine adverse 
> events. There 
> > have been estimates that fewer than 10 percent, even as low as 
> 1 to 4 
> > percent, of adverse events which occur after prescription drug 
> or vaccine 
> > use are ever reported to government adverse event reporting systems.
> >
> > "If only 1 to 4 percent of all adverse events associated with 
> GARDASIL 
> > vaccination are being reported to VAERS, there could have been 
> up to 
> > 38,000 health problems after GARDASIL vaccination in 2006 
> which were never 
> > reported," said Fisher. "How many girls are really having 
> short-term 
> > health problems associated with getting this vaccine that 
> could turn into 
> > long-term neurological or immune system disorders? And how 
> many will go on 
> > to develop fertility problems, cancer or damage to their 
> genes, all of 
> > which Merck admits in its product insert that it has not 
> studied at all? 
> > We just don't know enough to be mandating GARDASIL for anyone, 
> much less 
> > vulnerable 11 to 12 year old girls entering puberty."
> >
> > National Vaccine Information Center
> > http://www.nvic.org
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > NPInfo mailing list
> > NPInfo at nurse.net
> > http://lists.nurse.net/mailman/listinfo/npinfo
> > *****************************
> >
> >
> >
> > Paula J. Sumner RN, MSN, HTP, CHt
> > Healing Touch, Hypnotherapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, 
> Reiki-2
> > 3500 Westgate Dr., Suite 504-G
> > Durham, NC 27707 (now Carborro too.)
> > 919-490-4656, 8#
> >
> > http://paulajsumner.byregion.net Referral ID#10102918
> >
> > http://www.justanswer.com/home.asp?r=HolisticNurse&bn=2
> >
> > http://www.letstalkcounseling.com/sites/paulasumner
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
> > _______________________________________________
> > NPInfo mailing list
> > NPInfo at nurse.net
> > http://lists.nurse.net/mailman/listinfo/npinfo
> > ***************************** 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NPInfo mailing list
> NPInfo at nurse.net
> http://lists.nurse.net/mailman/listinfo/npinfo
> *****************************
> 


More information about the NPInfo mailing list