American College of Pediatricians Warns About Gardasil Risk
The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) released a statement last month expressing concerns about Merck and Co.’s human papillomavirus vaccine, Gardasil, and its correlation to premature ovarian failure, also known as premature menopause. The ACP’s concerns are based on two case report series published since 2013 in which girls vaccinated with Gardasil developed premature menopause. Further, there have been 213 reports of
The Immunocompromised Still Get Vaccinated
One of the more often repeated reasons you hear as to why everyone should get vaccinated is “to protect the immunocompromised”—those persons whose immune system is so weakened or suppressed that they cannot tolerate the effects a vaccine might have on them. These may include patients who are undergoing treatment for a medical condition. For example, chemotherapy for cancer. It may include people with AIDS, or organ transplant patients who are on immunosuppressive drugs. It may include individuals who have inherited diseases, such as congenital agammaglobulinemia or congenital IgA deficiency, that affect their immune system.
Flu Shots Urged for Pregnant Women Despite Unknown Effects
The flu vaccine is widely recommended for pregnant women, despite a lack of adequate safety testing. It was around this time in 2014 that a study came out in the New England Journal of Medicine stating the flu vaccine provided partial protection against confirmed influenza in pregnant women and their infants. The media began touting headlines like “flu vaccine safe…
Bad Batches: The Effect of Temperature Fluctuations in Vaccines
Parents can easily research the ingredients in vaccines and know their family’s medical history to determine the benefit-to-risk profile of those vaccines. But what if a vaccine is altered by temperature variations? Most people, including medical staff, are unaware that the quality and effectiveness of vaccines is critically dependent on proper transport, handling and storage by both the manufacturers and providers. And it seems that bad batches of vaccines, due to temperature variations, may be occurring more often than people realize, creating a largely overlooked and growing global problem of waste and revaccination.
HPV Vaccines Raise International Red Flags
The debate has always been hot about the risk-benefit ratio of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, ever since Merck’s Gardasil-4 vaccine was fast tracked to licensure by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2006 followed by persistent reports of young girls suffering serious health problems after vaccination. Now, new international investigations and reports of failure are hitting the headlines, prompting additional worries about severe reactions to HPV vaccines. Three HPV vaccines are available both in the United States and the European Union. Merck and…
My Immunocompromised Daughter Is “The Kid Who Can’t Be Vaccinated”
My sweet E was born healthy 16 years ago following an uncomplicated pregnancy. She had great Apgars and was amazing at breastfeeding right from the start. At E’s two-week check-up, I questioned the pediatrician on the necessity of the hepatitis B vaccine, which I had declined in the hospital due to “extreme” intuition. I didn’t understand why she needed the vaccine: I did not have hepatitis B, and she was not in a high-risk group as she was not…