Comments on: The Controversial HPV Vaccine May Be Approved for Boys, Too

By: Hannah

Hannah — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:58:46 +0000

I’m supposed to be getting the HPV vaccine tomorrow and after reading some of these comments I was pretty worried. So I looked it up on the internet, on this website – http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/how-safe-is-the-hpv-vaccine/ and discovered that there is a 145,000:1 chance of dying from the vaccination. You are more likely to die being struck by lightning, and FAR more likely to die from cervical cancer. I’m not saying I know more about this jab than anyone who has written on this page, but people whose daughters have become ill after having this really are in the minority. Stop trying to scare people through your own personal stories, teenagers and young adults should be encouraged to protect against cervical cancer!

By: mark

mark — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:44:10 +0000

jamiet says
every single comment here about the dangers of this vaccine is a complete and utter fabrication

Can you back that statement up with some proof please !

By: jamiet

jamiet — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:57:56 +0000

every single comment here about the dangers of this vaccine is a complete and utter fabrication.

it is mind-boggling that people so stupid can still figure out how to turn on a computer.

By: Eliza Strickland

Eliza Strickland — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:41:22 +0000

Don’t forget that the vaccine wouldn’t just protect men against the strains of HPV that can in very rare cases lead to cancer — it would also protect men against the strains that cause genital warts. Those warts might not be life-threatening, but they are unpleasant. And, as Cory and others have pointed out, it would prevent men from spreading those strains to women.

By: Cory

Cory — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:26:07 +0000

Dave, the reported side effects compared to the benefits, if you’ll read my earlier comment, are enormous. HPV has really no effect on us as men, true — it’s mainly the women you love who could suffer from the virus, and getting the shot may save them from a painful and nearly certain death by cancer.

Honestly, look at the statistics. Far, far more women die from now-preventable forms of cancer from HPV infection than receive even any serious side effect from Gardasil. The choice is clear.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:07:49 +0000

Speaking as a man who has had very few vaccines, doesn’t go to a doctor for regular checkups, and leads a perfectly healthy life without the tests, and anguish, people who have this vaccine had the choice to have it, and if they were unaware of a side effect, that’s very sad, but as common sense dictates, if you don’t know what it is, it might be best to wait on such things. I feel sorry for the poor people who were affected by the virus and contracted cancer as a result, it’s a serious disaster when that happens. But as someone unbiased, perhaps people who come forward with a negative side effect that isn’t in the fine print deserve to be payed attention to more. Perhaps this is one of those things where the cure is more dangerous than the ailment, or perhaps there is some other external force active in this whole thing… Although i can’t really see how that is possible. As for this treatment for a male… I can’t truly see the need to get a cure for something i have small odds of getting, with something that has been reported to be unsafe by many. But to each his/her own i suppose.

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:42:38 +0000

Just for the record, I have had the vaccine and am fine.

By: clara

clara — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:24:27 +0000

I am deeply sorry to those who have lost and are suffering…
but I am just wondering why nobody in this thread has thought to identify what exactly about Gardasil was the same for children who were adversely affected by this vaccine?
I have had it, and everybody I know that has had it is fine.
Is there some target group that should avoid the vaccine?
It’s one thing to blame the vaccine, but perhaps the tragic results came from a combination of the vaccine and some other factor in the environment.
I think an epidemiology insight is in order before we can start to put all the blame of Gardasil.
and while it’s silly to call people antivaxxers, its silly on the other side to assume that people FOR gardasil haven’t done any research. while big pharma has a history of botching data, it has been a long time since gardasil was released and plenty of people have had this vaccination without harm = no big deal, for evident reason.

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:09:35 +0000

Wow! Who mobilized the crazies, and gave them these talking points? I love Discover magaazine online- there is always a mix of views and backgrounds. I have never seen so many testimonials from what should be a sliver of people impacted by this vaccine.

I took a chance and told a personal part of my life that I don’t share with my own family!
I didn’t think I would get my first point past the censors of this site because I intuited a zealous motive for the previous posts. Thank God that if you give enough rope to fools they will hang themselves.

JKH, my heart go’s out to you.

By: JKH

JKH — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:51:40 +0000

As a woman who was infected by her spouse with HPV and who is now fighting for her life with breast cancer, I made my daughter get the vaccine. She went with her friend who was also vaccinated. Neither girl has had any reaction. The series of 3 shots was finished over a year ago.
I am deeply suspicious of the people who have written here, and I think that you are doing a tremendous disservice to the community at large.
Try cancer sometime.

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:57:44 +0000

Denise, the medical examiner could not find a cause of death, yet you “know” that the cause was Gardasil. Just because the death occured after the shot, that is not evidence in itself that the shot caused the death. VAERS is a voluntary reporting system that accepts any and all unverified claims of adverse events, with the aim of uncovering rare side effects that clinical testing may have missed. Because of their extreme rarity, these possible side effects would only become apparent when the sample size is in the millions, as opposed to in the thousands relied upon during clinical testing; this is what happened with Vioxx. All claims are counted regardless of how plausible, and only further analysis can elucidate any meaningful patterns.

When the sample size is in the multi-millions, it is stastically inevitable that some deaths will occur by chance in the period of days to months following the vaccine, and those deaths can be reported to, and will be included in, VAERS. Further analysis has not found a higher rate of death in the vaccinated group vs. the unvaccinated population.

I am sorry that your granddaughter died, but you can’t know that it was the result of the vaccine. Epidemiology points to Gardasil being very safe.

By: Denise

Denise — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:05:17 +0000

“ONE LESS” has been mentioned by one of the writers. Our family is also “ONE LESS”. Jessie had all three shots of Gardasil. After the second shot she and her mother notices the headaches, Muscle aches, and fatigue. Jessie was taken to the doctor that gave her the Gardasil. The doctor said it was just stress. Jessie was a cheerleader; a member of the National Honor Society, Played many sports and was practicing for softball, which was about to start.
Jessie went with her mother on February 20, 2008 for the third shot of Gardasil. The next night she told her mother that the headache was back and went to bed. Her mother went to work early the next day and upon returning home from work found Jessie dead. She had been dead for several hours. The medical examiner said, “She was dead before she hit the floor”. Still he could find no cause for her death.
Gardasil was typed into the computer and the nightmares that came up were shocking. We have been in contact with several families that have also lost their daughters to the vaccine that was to protect them. If we had only known that there were other side effects other than the few that were listed by Merck. Jessie would NEVER have received this wonder vaccine that is killing and maiming our girls.
Since Jessie’s death we have been researching and cannot believe that the FDA and the CDC have not pulled this product off the market. There are so many unanswered questions. The GRAY ZONES of risk were mentioned. They are calling all of the deaths (48 plus) just in the U.S. that we know of, sheer coincidences. There have been 15,000 adverse reactions also reported just in the U.S.. Statistics show that only 1%-10% is ever reported to VAERS, which is a very small percentage. Many families do not know to report the reactions or how to report them. It is not mandatory for doctors to report the adverse reactions so many doctors do not report them.
Should I go on? YES!!!
Gardasil trials by Merck brought many new medical conditions to many of the girls and women that were being used for the studies. This information is found on the FDA web site dated September 11, 2008. If you would like to look at it the information is on page 132 table 73 titled “New Medical Conditions.
HPV is a virus that the body can fight off over a period of time. The virus COULD cause cervical cancer, NOT WOULD cause cancer. In the U.S. cervical cancer is on the decline with the Pap test and other forms of detection. We do not have an epidemic of cervical cancer so why is Merck pushing to have every girl vaccinated. YOU GUESSED IT!!!! The answer is MONEY. Merck lost a lot of money with the drug VIOX. This drug was also killing people and had to be removed from the market. This is why my family and many others are fighting so hard to remove gardasil from the market. We do not want other families to suffer the loss of a child or have a daughter that is unable to function a normal life because of something that was suppose to keep her safe.
Please do not have your daughter vaccinated without researching Gardasil
A grandmother who knows.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:42:50 +0000

Gloria: I’ve had multiple physicals since the years that I’ve gotten the shot. Multiple doctors say I’m fine. Who are you to tell me that I’m going to have fertility problems? I am sorry that certain people have had adverse reactions and are still suffering from them. However, eliminating the vaccine may endanger more lives by rendering them susceptible to HPV, which could have been prevented by Gardasil and not by fear-mongering doomsayers.

By: Corry

Corry — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:33:27 +0000

I am already Corry with two r’s! I am the one who posts things that aren’t relevant to discussions, and then explains myself (in parenthesis) How crazy!

By: cory

cory — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:04:48 +0000

OT but….I have posted on other vax issue threads–a few weeks ago I was discussing varicella and shingles–however recently I have noticed another “Cory” on these vax threads. From now on I will be “coryy” with 2 y’s —it bothers me that we may be confused with each other.

(not that there is anything wrong, they just aren’t my words )