Gardasil: Big Pharma Killing Us Softly
There is no going back once your child has brain damage. Gardasil has been a big money maker for Merck Pharmaceuticals
With complete disregard for the welfare and safety of the
people who take their products, the pharmaceutical industry has made a
habit of putting profits above all else. Despite a track record of
bringing us drugs that kill and maim, such as Vioxx, AZT, Fen Phen, and
Thalidomide, there is never an apology, never a commitment to improve,
never even an acknowledgement that they have done anything wrong.
Now, as if we have learned nothing from history, the drama is unfolding
yet again, this time with Gardasil.
Gardasil, the human papillomavirus vaccine produced by Merck, was
brought to market in 2006 with great fanfare, widely proclaimed as the
first ever anti-cancer vaccine. Merck created a market for Gardasil out
of thin air with deceptive and dishonest advertising,
[1] and thereby planted fear in the mind of consumers: fear of an
enormous, yet unknown health crisis, an invisible time bomb waiting to
explode and harm women everywhere. When criticized for their
aggressive marketing, Merck countered that they were performing a
public service by raising awareness about the human papillomavirus and
weren’t selling anything.
[2] Really?
This lie became public as Merck was caught lobbying the 50 states for
mandatory Gardasil vaccination before it had even secured FDA
approval![
3] The fact is that there was never a need for
Gardasil in the first place: regular Pap testing had already lowered
the incidence of cervical cancer by 80% in the US to a few thousand
cases a year and the vast majority of all HPV infections resolve of
their own accord.[
4]But by lining the coffers of such groups as Women in Government (WIG),
and, of course, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),
Merck was able to influence legislation such that almost immediately
after the vaccine was approved, it was part of the vaccine schedule
recommended for all girls.
[5] If it hadn’t been for Governor
Rick Perry’s blunder of trying to mandate Gardasil for school
attendance in Texas in the face of huge conflict of interest and a $50
million contribution to his presidential campaign, Gardasil might have
gone even further.
[6]There is something deeply wrong with a giant pharmaceutical company
spending hundreds of millions of dollars to manipulate women and
influence legislation in order to generate a revenue stream of billions
of dollars a year for themselves at the expense of a gullible public.
Because what is wrong with Gardasil isn’t just that it is unnecessary.
Gardasil is possibly the most dangerous vaccine on the market with the
potential to injure, maim, or even kill the children who receive it.
The program of coercion to vaccinate every 11 to 26 year-old girl with
Gardasil is relentless. This vaccine is given not just in doctor’s
offices, where doctors have been known to “fire” non-compliant
patients, but in schools and colleges, where the pressure on girls and
their parents to conform can be extreme. These institutions all have
quotas — sometimes including financial rewards — and they are anxious to
prove high rates of compliance.
[7]But there is no informed consent prior to vaccination, so most of these
girls and their parents have no idea what they are risking by agreeing
to vaccination with Gardasil. While Merck, the FDA, the CDC and the
medical establishment all deny that there have been serious,
life-altering adverse events associated with Gardasil, the fact is that
compared with the mandated vaccines which are given with greater
frequency, Gardasil still has the most adverse events reported to the
Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) of any vaccine. And
since reporting of adverse events is not mandatory in the US (although
outbreaks of so-called vaccine-preventable illness are), it is likely
that only 10% even get reported!
[8]But what of the victims of Merck’s war on cervical cancer? Alexis Wolf
was a normal seventh grader in 2007. She had Type I diabetes, but had
successfully learned how to give herself insulin shots and eventually
graduated to an insulin pump, which she also mastered easily. Alexis
made the honor roll for the first time that year, and was rewarded with
a trip to Germany over the summer to visit her grandparents. Her
endocrinologist believed that the diabetes was under control and felt
that Alexis would be perfectly capable of making the trip on her own
and managing her diabetes herself. To make sure everything was in
order prior to travel, Alexis’ doctor recommended that she receive her
first Gardasil vaccine.
The trip went well, but Alexis seemed different to her mother when she
returned, perhaps a bit distant. Alexis received her second Gardasil
vaccine after coming home, and shortly thereafter her personality
changed entirely. For a relatively shy girl, Alexis immediately
became very gregarious, hugging everyone all the time. But she also
became agitated, troubled, and started having difficulty keeping food
down. It reached the point where she threw up a number of times a
day, which is especially dangerous for a diabetic. There began a
series of appointments with many, many doctors: the GP, the
endocrinologist, the cardiologist, the gastroenterologist, and numerous
different diagnostic tests. But nothing they did or recommended seemed
to help. Alexis was struggling to get through her days, usually
carrying a bucket with her at all times just in case. She had terrible
insomnia, was eating excessively, and was falling further and further
behind in school.
In January 2008, Alexis received her third Gardasil shot – within 2
weeks she was in the hospital. Her behavior had worsened to the point
where she was considered bipolar and she was put on a series of
antipsychotic medications. Her mother didn’t believe that this was a
psychological problem. She knew that something else had to be wrong,
knew that there had to be some medical explanation for what was going
on.
After weeks and months in and out of different hospitals with no
improvement and her condition growing more desperate, Alexis at long
last was seen by a doctor who recognized that she was having seizures –
something all the previous doctors had overlooked. This led to more
tests – EEGs, MRI imaging, and spinal taps — and finally a conclusion
that seemed to make sense: encephalitis, traumatic brain injury, and
seizure disorder. But why? Alexis’ mother had an additional conclusion
which was so crystal clear in hindsight – her daughter was normal
before she received the Gardasil vaccine and had worsened with each
one. The Gardasil vaccine had left Alexis with brain damage.
We spoke with Tracy Wolf, Alexis’ mother, about their ordeal. While
maintaining a cheerful optimism, Tracy admitted that she could never
have foreseen how their lives would change completely. After Alexis’
seizure disorder was identified and she was put on anti-seizure
medication, her physical symptoms improved to a certain extent, but she
was completely altered. Alexis has deteriorated from being a normal
child to one who is only functioning at a fourth grade level. Forced to
enter Special Education instead of rejoining her previous class,
Alexis became enormously frustrated and school became an ordeal for
everyone.
Since Alexis turned 18, Tracy finally gave up and pulled her out of
school, realizing that it really could not offer Alexis anything but
misery. The stress on their family has been enormous. The pressure
caused the Wolf’s marriage to dissolve, and Tracy is now raising both
their daughters by herself, with their father living in a different
state. Alexis needs almost constant supervision, and Tracy can only
leave her alone for short periods of time. They have applied for
special services that could possibly be helpful, but the waiting list is
long. Alexis doesn’t understand why things are so different, why her
little sister is learning to drive but she can’t.
[9]Unlike with other types of injuries, a vaccine victim cannot simply sue
the company responsible for the problem. Since 1986, all cases of
vaccine injury must be brought to the Office of Special Master at the US
Court of Federal Claims, commonly called the vaccine court. This
court was established to create a non-adversarial situation in which
children injured by vaccines could receive compensation. But the
Department of Health and Human Services has completely distorted the
intent of this legislation, and turned it into a highly adversarial
proceeding. Injuries listed on a table are supposed to be
automatically compensated, but they have removed a lot of injuries from
the table over the years, and have listed new vaccines, such as
Gardasil, with no specific injuries attributable to the vaccine. So the
burden is on the victim to prove causation because there is no
presumption of any injury.
In conversation with William Ronan, a lawyer retained by Alexis’
family, he shared that his law firm currently is handling 12 – 15
Gardasil cases that are being evaluated and another 6 cases already
filed in the vaccine court. Interestingly, out of all the types of
Gardasil-related injuries, the cases Ronan represents all fall into two
main categories: autoimmune and neurological. When the injuries are
neurological, doctors frequently can’t put their finger on what is
wrong, and end up sending the girls to a psychiatrist.
Ronan maintains that it is impossible for all of these girls suddenly
to have developed mental problems or simply to be imagining that they
have been harmed since receiving the Gardasil vaccine. While not
anti-vaccine himself, he has seen too many girls have serious adverse
reactions to Gardasil. He runs a two-person law firm in Kansas City,
and without advertising, has received at least 20 to 30 calls regarding
Gardasil injuries. Ronan believes his experience is just the tip of
the iceberg — anyone actually advertising legal services for Gardasil
victims would be inundated with a huge number of cases.
The work is slow-going. Evidence of harm caused by vaccines is
crucial, but there aren’t a lot of published medical studies about
safety to back up this claim. Those that exist are funded by the
manufacturer and tend to be overly favorable. Possibly the strongest
argument against Merck, according to Ronan, is their failure to warn
girls of the risk involved when getting the Gardasil vaccine. Merck
clearly knew that this drug could cause neurological dysfunction, yet
did not adequately address this in the product insert. Also, it is well
known that girls who already have an HPV infection are more likely to
be harmed by the vaccine, but the manufacture does not make this clear
and does not recommend testing. Ronan summed up his view of
vaccinating young girls with Gardasil:
“The real issue is: what is the
benefit of this vaccine? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? There is a
risk of a seizure disorder or an autoimmune disorder versus the
benefit that it might reduce cervical cancer. But Gardasil doesn’t
eliminate the need for regular Pap testing, which is already safe, and
there isn’t good evidence that it prevents cervical cancer. In
evaluating risk and benefit, when all the facts are known it becomes a
pretty easy decision – the vaccine is more dangerous than any benefit.
Unfortunately, medical professionals tend to read and listen to
information provided by the manufacturers, which doesn’t adequately
present the risks involved, so they actually aren’t sufficiently
informed to advise their patients.”Ronan’s own daughter had to fight off an aggressive attempt by her
doctor to get the Gardasil vaccine, so he understands the pressure
that girls are under to just go along instead of asking questions.
[10]We interviewed Dr. Meryl Nass, board certified internal medicine
practitioner and vaccine specialist, who agrees that Gardasil was rushed
to market without adequate safety testing. Three years after approval
for girls, the company likewise received approval to vaccinate boys
age 9 and above with no new studies and very little data to justify
this action. Regarding Gardasil’s adverse effects, Dr. Nass said,
“Children don’t usually die suddenly
when they are healthy but there are certainly lots of teenage girls
who have died relatively suddenly after Gardasil or developed severe
neurologic reactions. Therefore, if you are going to try to balance
safety and efficacy when you prescribe something like a vaccine, you
have to know how effective it’s going to be. Does this really prevent
cervical cancer in young women? And does it prevent it in women who
have already been exposed to these viruses? … So I don’t know how other
doctors prescribe something like Gardasil … Basically, they make an
assumption that since the FDA has licensed it … the manufacturer would
only market something that’s safe, doctors go ahead and prescribe. And
what they may not be aware of is that it is extremely hard to link a
side effect to a vaccine, for many reasons. Getting a judgment against a
manufacturer is very difficult and it has become more difficult due to
some recent litigation that reduced manufacturer liability for
vaccines in general.”[11]Gardasil’s doctrine is already so entrenched after only six years
that it is a formidable task to challenge the official story that this
vaccine is safe and effective, because the truth is too unsettling.
The remarkable claims of Gardasil’s benefits to women in the war on
cancer are full of holes and not supported by the science, even that
science funded by Merck itself. It is important to deconstruct the
falsehoods and half-truths that masquerade as facts about Gardasil.
- THERE IS NO HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS HEALTH CRISIS.
Cervical cancer in the United States has been at record lows for
the past two decades. Currently only an estimated 3,600 women die of
cervical cancer each year. The spectacular success in lowering the
death rate from cervical cancer can be attributed to annual Pap
screening – between 1955 and 1992 deaths from cervical cancer declined
74% and continue to decline annually by 4%. [
12]Part
of the success of Pap screening lies in the fact that cervical cancer,
unlike most other cancers, is very slow growing. With screening,
there is ample opportunity to catch and successfully treat cervical
cancer before it gets out of hand.It would be unlikely, then, for any further treatment to improve upon this already very low rate of cervical cancer death.
- HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS INFECTION DOES NOT USUALLY LEAD TO CANCER
It is estimated that virtually all women in the US experience a
series of human papillomavirus infections throughout their lifetimes.
What the makers of Gardasil try to hide is the well-documented fact that
90% of all HPV infections go away of their own accord within two years
without causing any disease and with no treatment or intervention of
any kind.
[13]
- GARDASIL DOES NOT PREVENT CANCER
The end point of all the efficacy studies for Gardasil was not, in
fact, prevention of cancer. Researchers couldn’t actually assess the
development of cervical cancer following the vaccine because this
process normally takes 20 to 40 years and their studies stopped after
just five. So instead, Merck’s scientists decided that the presence of
atypical cervical cells was a valid “surrogate end point,” or
substitute for cancer. They used this hypothesis despite the fact that
there is no evidence that the types of cervical lesions they chose as
their end point would eventually lead to cancer.
[14] Merck has never acknowledged that their entire premise for the efficacy of Gardasil rests on pure speculation. In fact, many if not most atypical cervical cells resolve on their own without intervention.
[15]
- GARDASIL IS NOT 98% EFFECTIVE AT PREVENTING HIGH-GRADE CERVICAL LESIONS.
Results of Merck’s efficacy study published in a 2007 article in
the New England Journal of Medicine claim that Gardasil is 98%
effective at preventing high-grade cervical lesions. But the article
itself reveals that Merck manipulated the data by excluding women and
girls who did not follow the exact protocol. When all women in the
study were considered, vaccine efficacy dropped to 44%. But even these
numbers only actually reflect cervical lesions associated with HPV 16
and 18. When Merck looked at Gardasil’s ability to prevent all
cervical lesions, Gardasil was only17% effective!
[16] And
again, their definition of “effective” rests solely on the unfounded
assumption that certain types of cervical lesions turn into cancer.
More damning is
Merck’s own acknowledgement that in their controlled studies, a percentage of girls actually
developed serious cervical lesions following Gardasil. The vaccine
seemed to cause the most lesions in girls with pre-existing HPV 16 or 18
infections, but also in girls who had no pre-existing HPV infections.[
17] At the very least, screening girls for HPV 16 or 18 infections would
give HPV-positive girls the chance to avoid developing cervical lesions
by declining the vaccine. Yet not only does Merck
not recommend testing for HPV prior to vaccination with Gardasil, they
have actually discouraged this practice, presumably so as not to draw
attention to the danger.[
18] Anything to maintain the fantasy that this is a safe and effective vaccine.
- GARDASIL DOES NOT PREVENT HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS
Gardasil is designed to prevent only 4 HPV strains: 16 and 18,
which can cause cervical cancer, and 6 and 11, which can cause genital
warts. However, there are 150 other types of HPVs, at least 15 of
which can cause cancer, and Gardasil provides no protection against
these other strains.
[19][20] Does Merck’s so-called
consumer education ever mention any of this? Of course not. Why would
you have your daughter vaccinated if you knew the protection was so
limited?
- VACCINATING PREPUBESCENT GIRLS WITH GARDASIL WILL NOT PROTECT THEM AGAINST HPV OR CERVICAL CANCER.
Despite the sanctimonious advertising which suggests that both
mothers and daughters can empower themselves through Gardasil, Merck’s
own studies show that the vaccine is only effective for 5 years.
[21] So if your 11 year-old daughter gets the Gardasil vaccine, it will
have stopped working by the time she is 16. But since Merck doesn’t
give out this information voluntarily, these girls and their mothers
will be in the dark.
- GARDASIL VACCINATION DOES NOT ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR ANNUAL PAP SCREENING
In portraying Gardasil as a treatment that will prevent 98% of
cervical cancer, the strong implication is that vaccinated girls will no
longer be at risk of cervical cancer at all. As we have already seen
in Finland, this can lead to the false assumption that there is no
longer a need for annual Pap testing. When women in Finland stopped
getting Pap screens, cervical cancer increased to 4 times the incidence
in only 5 years![
22] This complacency about risk, started
and fostered by Gardasil advertising, is also likely to lead to an
actual increase in cervical cancer in the US as more females receive the
vaccine and stop taking actions that have been proven to be
protective.
- THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT GARDASIL IS EFFECTIVE IN BOYS AT PREVENTING GENITAL WARTS AND ANAL CANCER.
Merck’s study of HPV vaccine efficacy in males published in the New
England Journal of Medicine states that Gardasil is 89% effective
against genital warts and 75% effective against anal cancer. Given the
fact that there are approximately 300 annual deaths from of anal/rectal
cancer among men in the United States, one wonders how Merck was able
to prove such a huge reduction in such a rare problem. As with the
female group, external lesions substituted for actual cancer with no
proof that lesions of that type actually lead to cancer at all. Yet,
Merck’s statistics regarding their cancer substitute
penile/perianal/perineal intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) listed in
their appendix to the article show that in men who did not have HPV
prior to vaccination, both the vaccinated group and the placebo group
had the same number of these types of lesions, making the observed
efficacy of Gardasil minus 98%! And for HPV strain 18-related
genital lesions, there were actually more lesions in the vaccinated
group than the placebo group. So as in the previous study, Merck’s
impressive numbers for the efficacy of Gardasil in men can only be
attained by excluding one-quarter of the study participants. When
everyone is included and all outcomes are assessed, the efficacy drops
to zero!
[23]Most significantly, Gardasil has been associated with an
unacceptable number of serious, life-altering adverse events following
vaccination. According to World Health Organization data, the rate of
serious adverse reactions reported to the VAERS system is 2.5 times
higher than the current age-standardized death rate from cervical
cancer. VAERS data show that Gardasil has been associated with 24,184
adverse effects since its debut in June of 2006, including seizures,
anaphylaxis, paralysis, transverse myelitis, Lou Gehrig’s disease
(ALS), acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM),
opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome (uncontrollable movement of the eyes back
and forth and jerking movements of the extremities), brachial
neuritis, loss of vision, postural tachycardia syndrome, facial palsy,
deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, chronic fatigue syndrome,
blindness, pancreatitis, speech problems, short term memory loss,
miscarriage, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorders, Guillain-Barre
Syndrome, abnormal Pap smears and even cervical cancer.
[24][25][26] Yes, you read that correctly – VAERS reports 41 cases of cervical cancer following vaccination with Gardasil!
Also, while Merck has not made pregnancy a contraindication for
Gardasil vaccination, recent data released by VAERS reveal that Gardasil
is
by far the most
dangerous vaccine to receive while pregnant, having caused more than
1300 adverse reactions in its five year existence compared to the next
most dangerous vaccine frequently given to pregnant women, the flu
vaccine, which has caused 200 adverse events over the past 20 years.
Gardasil vaccination while pregnant has also been associated both with
frequent miscarriage and a high rate of birth defects.[
27] But
most tragically, as of November 2011, 4 more deaths have been added to
the Gardasil toll, bringing the tally to 108 deaths due to the
Gardasil vaccine! [28]A vaccine against human papillomavirus was completely superfluous to
women’s health from its inception. As if the unreasonable risk
associated with this vaccine weren’t enough, Gardasil is also the most
expensive recommended vaccine on the market at $120 – $150 per injection
and three required doses. If this vaccine becomes mandated for school
attendance, how are poor people and the uninsured to come up with the
money? And as funding for government programs dries up, does it make
any sense to take limited state health care dollars to vaccinate
Medicaid-eligible girls with Gardasil instead of using the money for
something that actually might be of benefit?
Since the ACIP arm of the FDA already approved Gardasil in 2007 for
inclusion in the Vaccination for Children (VFC) program, which provides
free immunizations to about 40-45% of children in the US due to their
low income status, Merck’s syphoning off of money from other health
concerns is poised to become a reality. Vaccination of every 11 and 12
year old girl in the US with three doses of Gardasil in order to
attend school would cost $1.5 billion. To vaccinate these girls for a
lifetime, once word gets out that the vaccine is only effective for
five years, would cost $7.7 billion.
[29] Will there be any
money left over for anything else, like Pap screening for poor women?
Does this really seem like a good use of limited resources? Only to
Merck and its well-compensated allies.
India banned the HPV vaccine a year ago due to vaccine-related deaths.[
30] France no longer permits advertising for Gardasil or Cervarix.
[31] So why hasn’t the FDA, the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, or
Merck itself responded to the VAERS reports that Gardasil is not a
safe vaccine? The argument, which is the same defense used by all the
drug companies and government agencies against any adverse reaction to
any vaccine, is that since the VAERS system uses voluntary, passive
reporting, it does not prove that a sudden health problem – or even
death — occurring after vaccination was in fact caused by the vaccine.
The only causal relationships acceptable to the powers that be are
those that result from scientific studies. But these are often
unacceptable to the rest of us since the majority are funded by the
pharmaceutical companies themselves. So the fix is in. What can any
injured child or concerned parent do in the face of this hard line –
should they be required to set up their own scientific study?
Obviously, neither Merck nor our own government are willing to spend
money to prove that Gardasil is in fact dangerous – it is much simpler
and infinitely more lucrative to just ignore the allegations and try to
portray the victims as conspiratorial whiners.
Instead we get studies published in peer-reviewed journals such as, “
HPV
Immunization in Adolescent and Young Adults: a Cohort Study to
Illustrate What Events Might be Mistaken for Adverse Reactions,”[
32] from a lead author who received funding from Sanofi Pasteur (which
partners with Merck for vaccines outside of the US) and GlaxoSmithKline
(makers of the HPV vaccine Cervarix), while the other two authors
received support from both Merck and GlaxoSmithKline. Sounds like
objective science, right? Remember, Merck is the same company that
intentionally kept the cardiac risks associated with Vioxx secret while
aggressively advertising the product directly to consumers. The same
company that so effectively
fabricated a supposedly peer-reviewed journal to support Vioxx that even doctors couldn’t tell it wasn’t real –
The Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine.[
33] Merck let 60,000 Americans die from Vioxx-related heart attacks before
finally pulling the drug from the market when they could no longer
deny the truth, and cold-bloodedly set aside $1.6 billion with the
intention of fighting every claim for damages.
The CDC and the FDA maintain that Gardasil is an important cervical
cancer prevention tool that could protect the health of millions of
women. But the facts show that the opposite is true: in fact, Gardasil
vaccination is not justified by the health care benefits – which are
highly questionable and largely fraudulent – nor is it even economically
feasible. Yet the lure of the money appears irresistible and seems to
be clouding the thinking of everyone in a position to say no to the
creeping, relentless advance of Gardasil. It is up to us, the victims,
the parents, and the concerned friends and neighbors. We have to get
the message out to as many people as we can and flood our legislators
with notice that this vaccine is dangerous, should not be given to
anyone, and at the very least cannot be mandated for school attendance.
Tracy Wolf carries enormous guilt, blaming herself for ever agreeing to
let Alexis get the Gardasil vaccine. She believed she was doing the
right thing, doing what Alexis’ doctors had recommended. Too late, she
realized that the doctors really didn’t know any more about this
vaccine than she did. Tracy is now an advocate for informed consent.
She tries to share her story with anyone who will listen to prevent
this type of injury from happening to anyone else’s daughter. To all
parents being asked to vaccinate their daughters – or even sons – with
Gardasil, Tracy has this to say: “Please do your homework. Please
educate yourself about the risks of this vaccine. The risk of cervical
cancer is so low and the success of regular Pap testing has been so
great that there really is no need for this vaccine at all.
There is no going back once your child has brain damage.”Source:-
http://vactruth.com/2012/01/25/gardasil-killing-us/
Wed 28 Jun 2023, 13:21 by 
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Subject: Gardasil: Big Pharma Killing Us Softly 
