Girls report pain and fainting from Gardasil vaccine

[Guest guest]

Apparently this came out in Jan. don't recall seeing

it....................Lynn

Girls report pain and fainting from Gardasil

vaccineTHE ground-breaking Australian-developed

vaccine that prevents cervical cancer is gaining a reputation as the most

painful childhood shot, US health experts say.

The Gardasil vaccine is touted as an important new protection against

a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical and vaginal

cancer.

In recent months, experts have noted reports of pain and fainting from

the shot.

During its first year of use, reports of girls fainting from vaccinations

climbed, but it is not clear whether the pain of the vaccine was the

reason.

“This vaccine stings a lot,” said Patsy Stinchfield, an infectious

disease expert at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

It sure does, said 18-year-old Lauren Fant.

She said other shots tend to hurt only at the moment of the needle stick,

and not after the vaccine plunges in.

“It burns,” she said.

While many say the pain is short-lived, some say driving or sleeping on

the injected arm is uncomfortable for up to a day after.

Officials at Merck & Co, which makes the vaccine, attributes it

partly to the virus-like particles in the shot.

Studies showed more reports of pain from Gardasil than from dummy shots,

and patients reported more pain when given shots with more of the

particles.

US health officials have noticed a rise in reports of vaccine-associated

fainting in girls.

From 2002-04 there were about 50 reports of fainting; from 2005 until

last July, there were about 230. About 180 of those cases followed a shot

of Gardasil, which came on to the market in 2006.

However it is not clear if Gardasil’s sting is related to the

increase.

Dr Barbara Slade, an immunisation safety specialist at the US Centres for

Disease Control and Prevention, said a three-dose vaccine for adolescents

would be expected to prompt some fainting.

Gardasil is the first vaccine focusing on the human papilloma virus, HPV.

The Food and Drug Administration approved it for females aged 9 to

26.

Preliminary studies indicate only 10 to 20 per cent have received at

least one dose.

Atlanta pediatrician Dr Andy Andrews said he did not believe the shot’s

“ouch” had diminished demand.

“A lot of the older teens are coming in themselves, without a parent. So

they themselves are motivated to come back in,” Dr Andrews said.

For related articles on Gardasil click

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