SaneVax: 2012: The Top Fifteen Selling Vaccines

2012: The Top Fifteen Selling Vaccines JULY 14, 2013  By Norma Erickson The ‘medical miracle’ of vaccines has proven quite miraculous on at least one front, the financial one. Investors in the manufacture, distribution and administration of vaccines have reaped handsome rewards since the creation of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA). According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC): The topic of vaccine safety became prominent during the mid 1970s with increases in lawsuits filed on behalf of those presumably injured by the diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT) vaccine. Legal decisions were made and damages awarded despite the lack of scientific evidence to support vaccine injury claims. As a result of these decisions, liability and prices soared, and several manufacturers halted production. A vaccine shortage resulted and public health officials became concerned about the return of epidemic disease. To reduce liability and respond to public health concerns, Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) in 1986. This change in liability created an environment where vaccine manufacturers could evolve from threatening to get out of the vaccine production business to generating the following sales in 2012:1 1.       Prevnar 13® – $3.718 billion – Pfizer 2.    Gardasil® – $1.900 billion – Merck & Co/Sanofli Pasteur MSD 3.    PENTAct-HIB – $1.522 billion – Sanofli/Sanofli Pasteur MSD 4.    Infanrix/Pediarix – $1.183 billion – by GlaxoSmithKline 5.     Fluzone – $1.152 billion – by Sanofli/Sanofli Pasteur MSD 6.     Hepatitis franchise – $986 million – by GlaxoSmithKline 7.     Varivax – $846 million – by Merck & Co/Sanofli Pasteur MSD 8.    Menactra – $735 million – by Sanofli/Sanofli Pasteur 9.     Zostavax – $651 million – by Merck & Co/Sanofli Pasteur 10. RotaTeq® – $648 million – by Merck & Co/Sanofli Pasteur 11.  Synflorix® – $587 million – by GlaxoSmithKline 12.Pneumovax®23 – $580 million – by Merck & Co/Sanofli Pasteur 13.Rotarix – $549 million – by GlaxoSmithKline 14.Adacel – $469 million – by Sanofli/Sanofli Pasteur MSD 15. Prevnar – $399 million – by Pfizer For the five producers of the top 15 vaccines, this is a total of $15.925 billion; not at all bad for an industry that was threatening to close down operations 30 years ago. Apparently, limited liability does wonders for the bottom line. Whether the miraculous nature of the limited liability vaccination programs instituted since the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was created extends to safety and efficacy remains hotly debated. For instance, in 1980 there were three recommended vaccines given in five shots before age 2; DPT (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis), MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) and OPV (oral polio vaccine). The autism rate in 1980 was estimated at 2/10,000. Now, children could receive as many as 24 shots by 2 years of age and five shots in a single visit1 and the autism rate is now 1/88.2 No, this information does not prove causation. However, any reasonable person can see that a correlation exists. This correlation needs to be thoroughly investigated by people who are not stakeholders in vaccines or vaccination programs. Until that research is completed, exercise your right to informed consent.4 Do your research. Get These Questions Answered Before You Decide If A Vaccine Is Right For You Or Your Child: §  How serious is the disease being vaccinated against? §  What are the chances of being exposed to this disease? §  What is the normal outcome of contracting this disease? §  What is the worst case scenario of contracting this disease? §  What are the ingredients in this vaccine? §  Do I have an allergy to any of the vaccine ingredients? §  How effective is this vaccine? §  What are the adverse effects currently associated with this vaccine? §  Have I experienced an adverse reaction to any prior vaccination? §  Does my family’s health history make me more likely to suffer an     adverse reaction to this vaccine? §    Does my current state of health indicate I can be vaccinated now, should wait to vaccinate later, or not vaccinate at all? §  What are the alternative ways to protect against this disease? Above all, remember vaccines can and do cause injury or death for some individuals. Don’t play vaccine roulette – evaluate the risks, benefits, and alternatives – be a wise medical consumer! References: 1.      Top 15 Selling Vaccines of 2012, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, July 2013 2.    History of Vaccine Schedule, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, reviewed by Paul A. Offit, MD 3.    Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), CDC 4.    Informed Consent, Medline Plus, National Institutes of Health http://mobile.legalexaminer.com/uncategorized/shot-blocking-justice/ You likely didn’t know that the Japanese government has concerns that two popular HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines, Merck’s Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline ‘s Cervarix, can cause very severe side-effects including long-term pain and numbness, infertility, and paralysis. If the Japanese can ultimately show that the vaccine is dangerous, what does that mean for litigation in the Untied States where millions of young girls have received the shot? It will not be the litigation avalanche that you suspect. Chances are that you might not be familiar with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986 which created the Office of Special Masters of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims otherwise known as the “Vaccine court.” In essence, the Vaccine court was created to shield vaccine manufacturers from federal and state court litigation. While the Vaccine court has, on occasion, made sizeable awards to children injured from vaccines, the structure of the court is “a no-fault compensation scheme” which gives cover for Big Pharma to disclaim that theirs vaccines are actually dangerous. As for Gardasil, the Vaccine court has already paid out almost $6 million in claims concerning that drug (including two claims which resulted in death). The Vaccine court has also awarded $20 million in cases for vaccine-induced autism – something the drug giants tell us is just a medical fairytale. Likewise, the court has handed out numerous awards for flu shots that have caused Guillain-Barre Syndrome and even death. In 2011, the Supreme Court upheld the Vaccine court system when challenged, holding that it “reflects a sensible choice to leave complex epidemiological judgments about vaccine design to the FDA and the National Vaccine Program rather than juries.” Put another way, “we think juries are too stupid to figure out if vaccines are really injuring or killing kids.” Rather than the protection of a Vaccine court, which does little to incentivize the creation of the safest vaccines possible, we need vaccines to be subject to the same jury trial scrutiny that other scientific and medical cases are. http://www.fiercevaccines.com/story/japan-withdraws-recommendation-merck-and-gsk-hpv-jabs/2013-06-19 Japan takes a particularly reactive approach to vaccine adverse events. In 2011 Pfizer's ($PFE) Prevnar and Sanofi's ($SNY) ActHIB vaccines were both suspended following the deaths of four children. This week the spotlight is on GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) and Merck ($MRK). The Japanese health ministry has told local governments to suspend promotion of Gardasil and Cervarix while it investigates adverse events linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV) shots. As of this week, the vaccines are still freely available, but physicians will stop recommending use of the jabs, at least temporarily. The health ministry decision follows reports of people experiencing severe prolonged pain after receiving the vaccines. An estimated 3.3 million people have received the HPV vaccines in Japan, almost 2,000 of whom have then reported possible side effects, The Asahi Shimbun reports.  A ministry task force took a closer look at 43 cases but was unable to establish a causal relationship between HPV shots and symptoms of pain or numbness. HPV vaccines have been linked to more side effect reports than other shots approved at the same time, though. For every million vaccinations with Cervarix, Japanese people have reported 241 side effect cases. In contrast, there have been 67 cases per million Japanese encephalitis vaccinations. The prevalence of side effects--coupled with high-profile cases, such as a girl who lost the ability to walk after receiving Cervarix--prompted the task force to call for further studies. In the meantime, the ministry is withdrawing its recommendation of the vaccine. "The decision does not mean that the vaccine itself is problematic from the viewpoint of safety. By implementing investigations, we want to offer information that can make the people feel more at ease," task force head Mariko Momoi said. A ministry official told The Japan Times the HPV vaccination rate is certain to drop sharply while the issue is being resolved. - here's the Asahi Shimbun article - read the Japan Times item Related Articles: HPV vax awareness uneven despite Merck ad blitz Media reports used to track global vaccine backlash Merck's Gardasil looks effective in two-shot regimen Struggle against HPV vaccine skepticism intensifying Gardasil® Developer Claims Vaccine Prevents Abnormal Pap Tests, Not Cervical Cancer. http://www.free-press-release.com/news-gardasil-developer-claims-vaccine-prevents-abnormal-pap-tests-not-cervical-cancer-1297697975.html http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/24/hpv-vaccine-victim-sues-merck.aspx 213 Women Who Took Gardasil Suffered Permanent Disability Naomi Snell, a 28-year-old woman in Melbourne, Australia, is leading a class-action civil lawsuit against drug maker Merck after suffering autoimmune and neurological complications following injections with the HPV vaccine, Gardasil.  After receiving the first of three doses of the vaccine, Naomi suffered convulsions, severe back and neck pain, and lost her ability to walk.  Doctors actually diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis, which was later retracted and labeled a neurological reaction to the vaccine.  Seven other women, who say they have suffered various physical problems, including anaphylaxis and miscarriage, after receiving Gardasil may also join the civil lawsuit, and this is likely only the beginning, as Gardasil is being implicated in a growing number of serious, permanent and sometimes deadly adverse reactions. Multiple Sclerosis-Like Symptoms and Paralysis Not Unusual After HPV Vaccination Unfortunately, stories like Naomi's are all too common in relation to Gardasil.  One of the vaccine injury cases featured in the movie The Greater Good is that of Gabi Swank, a 15-year-old honor student who decided to get the Gardasil vaccine after seeing a "Be One Less" Gardasil vaccine advertisement on TV.  Like so many young girls, she wasn't warned about any possible side effects when she got the shots, which are given as a series of three injections. At the time the documentary was filmed, she had already suffered two strokes and experienced partial paralysis. She also lost part of her vision and today suffers frequent seizures. When she was in high school, many days she had to use a wheelchair to get around school due to muscle pain and chronic fatigue.  A similar reaction happened to 13-year-old Jenny Tetlock, who began seeing signs of trouble just one month after she was vaccinated against the HPV virus. Fifteen months later, a degenerative muscle disease left her nearly completely paralyzed.  Neurological symptoms such as these were also reported in a study done in 2009by neurologist Dr. Ian Sutton. He reported five cases of multiple sclerosis-like symptoms emerging shortly after women received the Gardasil vaccine, noting:  "We report five patients who presented with multifocal or atypical demyelinating syndromes within 21 days of immunization with the quadrivalent human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil. Although the target population for vaccination, young females, has an inherently high risk for MS, the temporal association with demyelinating events in these cases may be explained by the potent immuno-stimulatory properties of HPV virus-like particles which comprise the vaccine."  Further, Judicial Watch, a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, recently issued an update on adverse reaction reports relating to Gardasil.  The documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) detail 26 new deaths reported to the government following HPV vaccination between September 1, 2010 and September 15, 2011. That's 26 reported deaths of young, previously healthy, girls after Gardasil vaccination in just one year. Other serious side effects reported during that time frame included: More, Much More…. http://www.examiner.com/article/world-health-organization-accused-of-promoting-vaccines-to-benefit-manufacturers

My Daughter and Cervarix: Suffering I Cannot Take Away

My Daughter and Cervarix: Suffering I Cannot Take Away At one point or another, every parent in the world makes a decision they regret. Who could have predicted that an attempt to protect my daughter from cervical cancer via HPV vaccination would turn our lives into a constant battle to regain her health and maintain her right to an education? If we had only known…… Allow me to introduce my daughter, Chelsea Sascha Townsend, of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK. This is her story. Cervarix: Chelsea’s Experience Before Chelsea had the GlaxoSmithKline Cervarix injection she was a very happy, outgoing, confident young lady who, from starting nursery at the age of two to having the first round of vaccinations at the age of twelve, had had just one day absence from school due to illness.  Chelsea was such a determined and confident young girl that, once she started secondary school (making the move with none of her friends from primary as they all had places at a different school) was when others began to notice that she was confident, very intelligent and always stood up for herself, she would go out of her way to prove to them that she was the stronger person.  She would come home with tales of being told she was ‘weird’ and her response was, ‘if they want weird, then I’ll give them a reason to call me weird’ and would set off in the mornings with the left side of her hair in a plait and the right side either down, in a bunch, a mass of curls or dead straight.  Always pushing boundaries; that was my daughter.   She had many friends at primary school and during her first year of secondary would always be out on sleep overs, taking bike rides, reading for hours on end and even began to go to listen to local bands play.  Chelsea had the respect of her peers. After receiving the first injection – my daughter was part of the first year of the HPV vaccination program being administered (her dates of vaccination were November, December 2008 and May 2009) – Chelsea began to get severe headaches which were treated with migraine medication which then led to her having what she described as ‘absences’ whilst at school: she could be in the middle of a lesson, walking along at break time, sitting down eating lunch or have someone talking to her and yet she couldn’t hear a word that was said to her and felt as if she was ‘not in her head’; she was referred for investigation for possible epilepsy.  Naturally, the epilepsy diagnosis was incorrect. Over the next couple of months and the subsequent doses of ‘Cervarix’ being administered, Chelsea began to suffer from aching joints, more severe headaches and tiredness.  She began to miss a couple of days of school a week due to the headaches, nausea, aching joints and by the time she was approaching the end of year eight she was missing whole weeks due to all the previous side effects with the added issue of extreme exhaustion now beginning to affect her.  She also was experiencing loss of short term memory, lack of concentration and visual disturbances. Over the summer holidays of 2009 Chelsea began to suffer from complete exhaustion – she would sleep in later and later during the day and would have no energy to be able to go out with friends. She changed from an outgoing, popular girl, who was always laughing, to a very introspective and unconfident girl with no interest at all in life.  Her appetite began to diminish and she started to lose weight.  By the end of the summer my gorgeous daughter was virtually bed ridden.  She now slept for at least 20 hours a day and, if she felt well enough, could join her brother and I for dinner but would have no appetite and would tell us that the smell of food made her feel sick. Being a single parent I still had to go to work every day and so Chelsea was left at home alone, sleeping the days and nights away.  Occasionally she would have the energy to get out of bed and watch a couple of hours of TV but, after a while, the colour would drain from her face and her eyes would glaze over as total exhaustion would once again take over. This is how Chelsea’s life was lived for the next eighteen months, bedridden for weeks at a time with only the occasional ‘good’ day when she had enough energy to get out of bed – she became even more insular, struggled in social situations with people she had known for years and, on good days, refused to venture out of the house in case people from school saw her and called her a ‘fake’ – as they had been doing through social networking sites – rumours even went around that she was absent from school due to pregnancy: she had been seen taking her little cousin to the local park (my ploy to get her out into the fresh air for a few minutes).    Finally she was given the diagnosis of CFS/M.E in late 2010 but our GP was and still is refusing to entertain the idea that her illness began after the first Cervarix vaccination.  Due to the diagnosis Chelsea was awarded three hours of tuition a week but the two tutors she had allocated to her by the Local Education Authority were not particularly understanding of her needs. In addition to her diagnosis of CFS/ME, Chelsea has also been diagnosed as having an underactive thyroid gland and is now taking the medication Thyroxin – this diagnosis was given in 2011.  There is no history of this condition in our family. Thankfully, in May of 2011, a wonderful tutor was then employed by the local authority and, with her help Chelsea’s confidence slowly came back.  I was also taking her to weekly appointments with CAMHS – Children and Adolescents Mental Health Service where she was seen by a psychologist who prescribed anti- depressants, which Chelsea stopped taking after three months as she said they hadn’t changed anything about the way she felt, and gave her advice on how to get her sleep pattern back to normal (by this time she was, on some days, awake for a few hours at a time, but at night time when the rest of the house was asleep (further exacerbating her feelings of isolation and loneliness) and a psychotherapist for CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) who discussed planning and pacing with her.  It was awful having to drag her to appointments when she felt that the CBT was accomplishing very little and, in her words, was just ‘a man sitting there lecturing me’.  However, now that she is studying Psychology at A Level she can look back on her experience and see that CBT really did help. We had weeks of harassment from the Local Education Authority’s Attendance Service, who seemed to view Chelsea and I as a ‘soft touch’ – because I teach at the school she attends.  To the point where, during one meeting, the LEA’s head attendance officer leant over to my daughter and threatened ‘do you want your mum to go to prison Chelsea?’  I’m sure I don’t have to outline how angry I was at this comment and the rather insulting reply I gave.  A different tack was tried – they suggested that I make Chelsea come into school when I did at 8am to ensure I woke her up and got her out of bed as was my duty as her parent…I am afraid that is the point when I broke down, starting Chelsea off crying too (we both cry when we get angry or realise that an injustice is taking place).  My response was something along the lines of: ‘I doubt that you have ever had to try to wake up your child that is a shadow of their former self, trapped in their own body.  They can hear you, but cannot open their eyes, let alone lift their head from the pillow.  Have you ever watched your child’s lips move in response to you asking them a question but no sound comes out because they do not have the energy to even form a whisper?  Have you ever arrived home hours later and have your child repeat back everything that you said to them that morning, proving beyond a doubt that opening their eyes, responding and getting out of bed are a physical impossibility? Have you ever seen a grey pallor take over your child’s skin, making them look waxen and worn down? Have you ever looked into your child’s eyes and seen nothing there? Eyes that are completely devoid of life?  Eyes that appear to be black and dead?’  The woman did not bat an eyelid and told me the date and time of the next meeting they had scheduled (during one of my free lessons), by going into the school office and looking at my teaching timetable!!   They had not reckoned on the both of us refusing to bend to their bullying tactics and, after I had written and sent a four page letter to them outlining each and every way they had broken the law, acted in an underhand manner and, when we openly challenged them to take us to court, did they finally acquiesce to the fact that Chelsea was the only person who knew how her body worked and was the best person to decide when she was able to attend lessons. When her GCSE results were given out in August 2011, she had managed to gain five A’s, two B’s and a BTEC distinction star in Science.  Chelsea is now working on her A levels. Sadly her M.E seems to have worsened over the last year and she is only able to attend school for either two half or one full day and has had to drop one subject but, despite this, she is getting A grades in the two subjects she has continued with and is planning on taking an extra year to complete an extra subject and an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) in order to gain entry to university. Chelsea has worked hard to rebuild her confidence, after a long battle and many letters she is now sent work from her teachers that she might have missed and, thanks to guidelines from the AYME website, the school are now aware of their legal responsibility as to the provisions Chelsea is entitled to due to her illness. It has been a long, hard slog to get to this point and it still isn’t over as she faces a fight to get to university and embark upon her chosen career path whilst battling every day against her own body that has been irreversibly changed by GlaxoSmithKline’s HPV vaccination, Cervarix. Many times over the last few years I have said to Chelsea that if I could take away her suffering and have it myself, then I would, as I am sure all mother’s would – each and every time my daughter has responded with, ‘Mum, there is no way I would want you to have to feel like this every day, I wouldn’t even wish it on my worst enemy’…just sitting here typing these words has brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat! In my role as tutor to students in Year 7 and 8, I make a point of always mentioning Chelsea’s case to the girls a few months before they have their vaccination, hoping that they will relay my daughter’s story to their parents.  However, I now feel that this is not enough and that I will be failing in my professional ‘duty of care’ if I do not provide the parents of these girls with recent literature about the adverse reactions these vaccinations cause.  I will be approaching the principal of the academy in which I work in an attempt to convince her that as an establishment responsible for the well-being of young people, we have a moral and ethical obligation to provide parents with information both supporting and discrediting the HPV vaccination programme.  If I can prevent just one young girl from having her life irreversibly changed, then the guilt I feel over the gamble I took with my daughter’s health will be, in a small way, alleviated. Having now met and spoken with other mother’s whose daughters have also had a reaction to Cervarix; it is comforting to know that we are not on our own.  We know our daughter’s better than anyone and know that we had healthy, bright girls prior to this vaccination and, as if overnight, their lives changed and we have had a constant struggle ever since then.  However, the truth will out and those who have denied us help, respect and common decency will have to answer for their actions one day.  If I could turn back the clock I most certainly would.

HPV VACCINES: JAPAN LEADS THE WAY JUNE 24, 2013   By Norma Erickson Will Japan be the first country to call a halt to one of the largest human health experiments in the history of mankind? The HPV vaccine story is almost identical in every country where they have been introduced. The background facts are the same: § No one is informed that HPV has not been proven to cause cancer by itself § The fact that 90% of HPV infections clear without intervention is virtually ignored § The fact that most so-called pre-cancerous lesions clear on their own is ignored § The fact cervical cancer is nearly eradicated in most developed countries is ignored § Local oncogenic HPV type prevalence either not determined or ignored § Manufacturers are allowed to use questionable endpoints during clinical trials § Manufacturers do not use inert substances as placebos/control solutions during trials § FDA fast-track approval despite HPV vaccines not meeting criteria for fast-tracking § HPV infections are morphed into ‘inevitable cancer threats’ § Public relations campaigns to create unwarranted fear of cervical cancer death § Global cervical cancer statistics quoted to generate ‘need’ for ‘universal’ action § Massive political lobbying to create vaccine acceptance/permanent markets § Government recommendations initiate mass-HPV vaccination programs § Reality sets in – serious adverse events and deaths are reported § Citizens begin asking their governments to investigate For the citizens of Japan, this is where the story takes a different path than that of most countries. The citizens of Japan began to experience serious adverse events after HPV vaccination and asked their government officials for answers. The Japanese government health officials immediately rescinded their previous recommendation for the administration of HPV vaccines pending the outcome of investigations into the cause of the adverse events. Consider the following report published in the June 2013 issue of Gekkan Nippon Magazine: The elder daughter of Mika Matsufuji of Suginami-ku, Tokyo, received a second dose of the cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix on October 19, 2011. The girl, aged 12 at the time, received the injection in the muscle of her upper left arm. She immediately felt pain and numbness in her hands, and three hours after the injection the pain spread to her shoulder, left leg and thigh, and down to her toes. She suffered vomiting and headaches, and the left side of her back swelled abnormally. Even now, the girl still suffers pain. Or, this report from a local Japanese newspaper: …a fourteen year old girl (junior high school student) was inoculated with Cervarix on the 28th of July in 2011, and found having had a cardiopulmonary arrest in the morning two days after (on the 30th of July). Her death was confirmed. This girl had a history of chronic ventricular tachycardia which causes unexpected arrhythmia (irregular pulse). The direct cause of her death was estimated to be arrhythmia. Or, this partial list of the 1,926 reports filed after HPV vaccines of symptoms considered critical, as published in the June 2013 issue ofGekkan Nippon Magazine: Chills, red rash, hot sensation, fever, anemia, arthritis, arthralgia, pneumonia, mycoplasma, gait disorder, papillitis optica, weakened vision, hypoesthesia, local swelling, muscle weakness, loss of limb movement due to injection, dysphoria, laryngeal edema, purple spots, reduced blood platelet count, hemorrhage, angioma, pain, shock, nausea, decline in level of consciousness, discomfort, fainting, fall, suicidal impulse, abdominal pain, cyanosis, loss of consciousness, foreign body sensation, musculo-skeletal pain, decrease of blood pressure, respiratory distress, pallor, choking sensation, polypnea, tachycardia, vomiting, encephalopathy, shock, cyanosis, fatigue, muscle weakness, Guillain-Barré syndrome, motor impairment, simple rash, hives, respiratory distress, hypersensitivity, and facial swelling Reports just like these are being filed in every country where HPV vaccines are being used. The difference is – when these safety concerns were brought to light in Japan, government health officials immediately rescinded their previous recommendation for the administration of both Gardasil and Cervarix pending the outcome of investigations into the cause of the adverse events. Japan acted quickly and decisively. Why are our government officials not doing the same thing? How serious does the situation have to become before medical consumers demand responsible action from their representatives and health authorities? References: 1.      HPV vaccines and cancer prevention, science versus activism, Tomljenovic et al… 2.     Human Papillomavirus and Related Cancers, WHO 2010 summary report 3.     Genital HPV Infection – Fact Sheet, CDC 4.     Chapter 2: An Introduction to Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN), WHO 5.     Colposcopy and Treatment of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia: A Beginner’s Guide, WHO 6.    HPV Vaccine Safety: Has the CDC abandoned its mission?, N. Erickson 7.     Prevalence of HPV infections among females in the United States, Dunne et al… 8.    Too fast or not too fast: the FDA’s approval of Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil,    Tomljenovic/Shaw 2012 9.    HPV vaccines and cancer prevention, science versus activism, Tomljenovic et al… 10.    HPV Vaccines: Science versus Reality, Dr. Lucija Tomljenovic 11.  No end of trouble! Cervical Cancer Vaccine Prime Minister Abe, Please Stop This Vaccination at Once!  – published in the Gekkan Nippon Magazine, June 2013 12.First Reported Death in Japan after Cervarix - Local Japanese Newspaper Article My government cares about HPV vaccine safety. Does yours?

Breaking News: Japan Suspends Recommendation of HPV Vaccines

Breaking News: Japan Suspends Recommendation of HPV Vaccines By Norma Erickson 14 June 2013: Merck's Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix took a hit as Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare told local governments to suspend their previous recommendation for HPV vaccine administration to the country's 12 to 16 year old girls. Mrs. Tomoko Saito, reporter for The Asahi Shimbun, emailed this front page news article to the SaneVax team the same day. According to the article, Health Ministry withdraws recommendation for cervical cancer vaccine: “Girls can still receive the vaccination for free, although medical institutions must now inform them beforehand that the ministry does not recommend it.” The Japanese government has subsidized the use of either Gardasil or Cervarix since 2010, but the HPV vaccines marketed to prevent cervical cancer did not come into widespread use until after revisions to Japan's Preventive Vaccination Law took effect in April 2013. These changes also added pneumococcal vaccines and Japanese encephalitis vaccines to the country's recommended schedule. Side effect reports for each of the four newly approved vaccines are as follows:  Cervarix - 245.1 per 1 million vaccinations  Gardasil - 155.7 per 1 million vaccinations  Pneumococcal vaccines - 89.1 per million vaccinations  Japanese encephalitis vaccines - 67.4 per million vaccinations After a special task force examined 43 cases of widespread pain after HPV vaccinations, the panel concluded that given the timing of symptoms they could not rule out a connection between the adverse events and HPV vaccines. Because a direct cause and effect relationship could neither be established, nor ruled out, the task force concluded that their previous recommendation for administration of HPV vaccines should be withdrawn until appropriate information about the cause of the pain and numbness experienced by the girls can be determined and provided to the public. Mariko Momoi, vice president of the International University of Health and Welfare and chairperson of the special task force stated: “It is necessary to gather information immediately to accurately grasp how often (these side effects) are occurring.” The task force concluded that:“...active recommendation of cervical cancer vaccinations should thus be halted until a more complete picture of their side effects can be attained.” This is the second time in the history of Japan's vaccination program that a vaccine recommendation has been rescinded. Mika Matsufuji's daughter was vaccinated with Cervarix in 2011 and subsequently lost her ability to walk. She is now confined to a wheelchair. Mika represents an association of cervical cancer vaccination victims' parents. Speaking out: Mika Matsufuji (center), who represents a parents' association of cervical cancer vaccination victims, answers reporters' questions Friday at the health ministry in Tokyo Although this group wants to see HPV vaccinations halted, they see the health panel's decision as a step in the right direction. Mrs. Matsufuji stated: “We welcome the decision not to recommend the vaccination even though it is a small step. Parents can decide whether their children should receive the vaccination or not.” The Sane Vax team would like to thank the health authorities in Japan for acting quickly and responsibly when a concern about HPV vaccine safety came to light. Health authorities around the globe could learn something from Japan's demonstration of genuine concern for the health and well-being of their citizens.    References:           1.      Health ministry withdraws recommendation for cervical cancer vaccine, The Asahi Shimbun          2.    Gov't cautions municipalities on cervical cancer vaccination, Kyodo News International 3. Cervix vaccine issues trigger health notice, The Japan Times