Comments on: Papers continue shameful coverage of vaccination death

By: Help correct the damage from the media’s irresponsible coverage of the cervical cancer vaccine

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:34:38 +0000

[...] research the cervical cancer jab (in the tragic wake of a schoolgirl’s death) see a mass of negative and inaccurate information linking her death to the [...]

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:51:28 +0000

I've blogged a response to this.

By: Cervical cancer jab: Google fuelling unnecessary fears » malcolm coles

Cervical cancer jab: Google fuelling unnecessary fears » malcolm coles — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:43:08 +0000

[...] posted here and here about the newspapers stoking up fear about the cervical-cancer vaccination program in the [...]

By: Malcolm Coles

Malcolm Coles — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:04:22 +0000

Sally, thanks for commenting. The yellow card scheme also over-reports as the MHRA says: "Even if it is only a suspicion that a medicine or combination of medicines has caused a side effect, we ask patients and health professionals to send us a Yellow Card." Also, the sorts of side effects reported for this vaccine until now are headaches and rashes. These are not severe. I'm not saying that the vaccine didn't cause this girl's death. It's very sad either way. But the papers are implying a causal link when there is currently no evidence for one. This vaccine will save 00s of lives a year. Putting parents off allowing their children to take it is irresponsible when there is no evidence of any serious detriment from taking it but plenty of evidence that it will save lives. If it's shown that the vaccine did trigger an underlying health issue, then public health officials and parents (like me) will be in the position of having to balance risks. But this vaccine has, I believe, been given to 1.5 million poeple safely so far. I am in no way trying to weight one girl's life against that of several hundred others. But the rational choice - taken outside an atmosphere of hysteria - is for the vaccine program to continue. I am appalled at the statements I see in the comments sections of newspapers from worried parents saying they aren't letting their daughters have the vaccine. They are leaving them open to far higher risk.

By: Sally Beck

Sally Beck — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:50:53 +0000

Just one comment. I spoke directly to a scientist who worked on the vaccine programme who made this comment. "I understand from reports in the media that MHRA have received about 2,200 adverse reaction reports on HPV vaccines. It is generally accepted that spontaneous reporting systems (Yellow Cards for example) suffer approximately 90% under reporting based on the evidence that only about 10% of UK doctors ever complete a Yellow Card. This means that the actual number of HPV reports could be in excess of twenty thousand. These figures need checking but are, in any case, very alarming. Death occurring a matter of hours after a medical intervention has to be accepted as causal in the absence of convincing, serious alternative causes."

If this girl had an underlying medical condition, it seems she was living perfectly happily with it until she received her HPV. More questions and answers are needed until anyone can conclude that the jab was or wasn't responsible.

By: Vaccines bad, m’kay? | Bigmouth Strikes Again

Vaccines bad, m’kay? | Bigmouth Strikes Again — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:19:31 +0000

[...] we go again. Malcolm Coles argues that media reports are doing an MMR, this time with the cervical cancer vaccine: Let’s be clear. The only reason parents are [...]

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:27:26 +0000

The Guardian's now changed the headline to "Schoolgirl who died after cervical cancer injection had medical condition", which is better... I think. "We were wrong about death/vacccine link" might have been preferable.