The makers of Gardasil have been pushing this product heavily since it hit the market a couple years ago. Gardasil is the vaccine that we are supposed to be giving our daughters as young as age 9, to prevent the virus that causes one type of cervix cancer. We’ve all seen the commercials drumming the term “one less” into our heads. Now, reports are coming out that say over 8000 girls have developed serious side effects. These include warts, rashes, seizures, and paralysis, some of which are permanent.
I have had serious misgivings about this vaccine since it came out. It only prevents one type of cancer as I understand it and I wondered why the heavy push to give it to young girls and not older women. I did not encourage my daughter to get it as I felt a new drug needs some time in use before we can know fully whether it’s safe or not.
The drug company Merck of course, says it’s safe and effective and that the side effects are minimal. You have to understand that the few thousand who are really hurt by the product, to the drug company, are so small a number that they are almost considered just to be acceptable damage. The thing is that even if it only harms one in a billion, who wants to be that one?