How Safe is Gardasil the HPV ‘Hot Shot’?

When it comes to the health of their children, parents have one simple desire: to protect them from as many diseases as possible. So when a vaccine with irrefutable benefits is introduced into the market, most of us welcome it with open arms. Our enthusiasm can sometimes be dampened, however, by the flurry of negative stories that often follow, leading to feelings of fear, doubt and apprehension.

Such is the case with Gardasil, the vaccine against the most common sexually transmitted virus - the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The vaccine prevents against the majority of cervical cancers and several other HPV -related diseases. As it is preventive in nature, it is recommended for routine immunization of girls between the ages of 11-12 years (before sexual debut) and catch –up through age 26 years.

In spite of its attractive benefits, the vaccine has been mired in controversies that have received extensive coverage in the media, including those that pit scientific merits against moral values. Our main focus here will be on the more quantifiable scientific reports on the safety profile of the vaccine.

Green Signal

 

For those parents who are concerned about the “newness” of the vaccine, recent news from the CDC on October 22, 2008 offers much needed solace. Reports presented by four different sources to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an independent panel of experts that advises the CDC on vaccine policies, found that there were no signals to link Gardasil to any of the serious adverse effects that lately have been publicized in the media. Additionally, no link was found between the vaccine and birth defects, miscarriages, or fetal and infant deaths.

Catch 22

 

If this is true, then why are there so many stories that continue to allude to its dangers? Shouldn’t everyone be in unison to embrace this vaccine? The reason these doubts continue to plague us is because all these stories on the vaccine’s adverse effects are not entirely false.

For the consumer

 

So how can consumers differentiate between the two so as to make the best-informed decision before vaccinating?  In order to do that, it is helpful to understand the difference between a side effect (caused directly from the vaccine) and an adverse effect (may or may not be related to the vaccine). In other words, an adverse effect can be a sheer coincidence and have the same statistical occurrence as the population at large that has not been vaccinated. Now, let’s look at what some of the side effects and adverse effects of the vaccine are.

Side Effects

 

The two most common side effects of Gardasil thar are reported are pain at the site of injection (nearly 80%), followed by swelling and redness (around 25%). These are temporary symptoms and resolve within a few days in most cases.