Our Readers' Opinions
October 26, 2017
No proof that HPV Vaccine prevents cervical cancer

EDITOR: There is nothing wrong with marketing a product, except you are using false or unproven information to convince people that they need what you are offering. When you know the truth, you become morally obligated to inform persons of the dangers of products, such as the HPV Vaccines, that are peddled as saviours to Vincy girls. The Ministry of Health is involved in a questionable campaign, as it tries to convince parents to allow their Grade 6 girls to take a vaccine touted as safe and effective. “Save Vincy Girls, Prevent Cervical Cancer” is their tagline, a statement that is based on a lie.

Firstly, the Ministry of Health, whose existence is financed by the sweat of taxpaying Vincentians, should never introduce a vaccine to our girls without adequately presenting all the risks and dangers these girls can experience from its injection into their young bodies. UNESCO, in its Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, clearly states that “Any preventative, diagnostic and therapeutic medical intervention is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information.” (Article 6).

Adequate information should be any and all information a parent needs to have to help in making a decision to consent, or not to consent, to this HPV Vaccine. The Ministry is yet to admit in its ads that this vaccine has been linked to at least 328 deaths in the United States, loss of consciousness, fainting, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, swollen body parts, arthritis, genital warts, heart and kidney disorders and HPV infections. No ad from the Ministry has indicated that according to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) of the United States, there has been in excess of 51,000 adverse reactions reported up to June 2017, from persons who took the Gardasil vaccine. That should help parents decide whether to consent to have their children vaccinated. But all we are told is – Save Vincy Girls, Prevent Cervical Cancer.

The fact is, to claim the HPV Vaccine prevents cervical cancer, is totally baseless. It is a deceptive statement. To claim that it is “safe and effective” for our Grade 6 girls is also totally false.

When the Gardasil vaccine was presented to the FDA for approval, it was not presented as preventing cervical cancer. “When this vaccine was being assessed for approval, the FDA asked its panel of advisors to rule on whether Gardasil protected against HPV 16 and 18, not whether it specifically prevented cervical cancer. In fact, during pre-licensure studies, 361 women who received at least one shot of Gardasil went on to develop precancerous lesions on their cervices within three years, just 14 per cent fewer than in the placebo control group.” (Source: Neil Z. Miller, Vaccine Safety Manual: For Concerned Families and Health Practitioners, p. 525, 2012).

It is clearly irresponsible to lead citizens to believe that HPV Vaccines actually prevent cervical cancer, when no evidence exists anywhere stating that. Miller, a medical researcher, makes this point clear: “…No actual cases of cervical cancer were prevented in any of the test subjects in any of the clinical studies of the HPV Vaccine… there is no actual proof to date that even one case of cancer has been, or will be, prevented by this vaccine”. (p. 525).

What is even worse is the fact that this vaccine is targeting 10 and 11-year-old girls. There has been no peer-review studies done with girls in this young

age group to determine the safety of this vaccine. There has not been a single trial which proves that the HPV Vaccine is safe for Grade 6 girls.

Parents should be adequately informed of the risks associated with the HPV Vaccines. The Ministry of Health has a moral obligation to run truthful campaigns; if it takes this obligation seriously, it will not in the least way declare that the HPV Vaccine it is pushing actually prevents cervical cancer. That campaign needs to stop, as it is based on false information. No proof exist to support it. Parents deserve the truth – the HPV

has harmed and continues to harm girls in some of the worst ways.

Shefflorn Ballantyne