REGRET response to Irish Cancer Society launch of 'Political Education Campaign' on the HPV Vaccine.

15/09/2016

REGRET is concerned to see the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) actively campaigning for the HPV vaccine Gardasil™ without asking the HSE to ensure that parents are being supplied with the full information on potential side effects.

In a recent press statement announcing an information campaign targeting politicians, the ICS state the importance of parents, "making choices about the future health of their children" and being "fully informed on these clearly established facts to empower them to make informed decisions."

The principal of Informed Consent is something that is especially important to all in our support group. Our children became sick with known side effects of the vaccine which we were not forewarned about. Yet the full list of possible side effects, as listed on the manufacturers PIL, are still not provided by the HSE in the school packs sent home prior to the vaccination. We would like to know what the ICS position is on the HSE policy of withholding safety information, and denying parents their right to informed consent.

We also point out a possible conflict of interest where the ICS is actively promoting this product after having received substantial donations from those pharmaceutical companies who profit from its sale.

We question why a charity is funding a public awareness campaign to promote a pharmaceutical product which is not proven to prevent cervical cancer. Therefore those who get the vaccine will still need to avail of pap smear testing as this is the only proven means of effectively preventing this rare cancer. Note that the 2013 cervical cancer diagnosis rate in Ireland is 11.22 per 100,000.

REGRET's message is that parents are right to question, and to demand the full information. When they are ignored, trust is further damaged. We put it to the Irish Cancer Society, the HSE and the Minister for Health to comment on this issue of informed consent, as outlined in our video "Make up your own mind" that has now been viewed over one million times. This video is in direct response to the non- disclosure of risk information in the school packs distributed by the HSE, via the schools.

Additional Notes:

Who are REGRET?

REGRET is a support group representing over 400 girls who became chronically ill in the aftermath of the HPV vaccination. It causes us great concern that the HSE withheld risk information from the public by not supplying us with the full information on potential side effects of Gardasil™, as per the manufacturer Merck's Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) which, it states, should be provided to all receiving the vaccine: "Vaccine information is required to be given with each vaccination to the patient, parent, or guardian - Inform the patient, parent, or guardian regarding benefits and risks associated with vaccination".

Claims of being an anti-vaccination group are regularly levelled at us. They are patently untrue to the point of being absurd given that we got our children fully vaccinated. It happened that they became sick in the aftermath of the Gardasil™ HPV vaccination.

Science is based upon observation. Yet a blind eye is being turned to the many observed cases in Ireland and internationally of girls who are becoming chronically ill in the aftermath of the HPV vaccine, with a range of symptoms listed in the PIL, including seizures, headaches, joint pain, loss of feeling in limbs, muscle weakness, a range of auto immune conditions and, of utmost concern – because it was never tested for in the safety trials – Primary Ovarian Failure.

We do not accept that our girls are 'coincidences', or that vaccine-damage should not be considered as a possible causation, as has been repeated stated to us by the HSE. Indeed it would be unscientific of us to do so, because despite our repeated requests to the HSE the sick girls have never been evaluated as a group to confirm causation or not. Over 400 previously healthy girls in Ireland who became chronically ill with a common symptom pattern in the aftermath of this vaccine cannot all be coincidences.

There is mounting independent scientific evidence that the vaccine Gardasil™ can cause autoimmune disorders. In November 2015, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) conducted a review of two conditions: CRPS and POTS.  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was not a condition under the scope of the review. Nevertheless, the HSE and, now, the Irish Cancer Society, continue to corral the girls symptoms into a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome diagnosis despite them having never been evaluated, and when their symptoms, including regular seizures, fall well outside it. Regardless of the fact that they are not in a position to diagnose our girls, any safety claim for CFS made on the basis of a study which did not test for this syndrome is highly questionable.

In May of this year, the independent and highly regarded Nordic Cochrane Institute issued a complaint to the EMA asking fundamental questions about the conclusions of the EMA safety review:. The EMA response has been deemed unresolved by the Institute.

According to the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) there are more than 45,000 adverse events reported following the HPV vaccination. According to the Irish Health Products Regulatory Authority's (HPRA) statistics on the HPV vaccine, over 1,000 adverse events have been reported and over 3,000 symptoms logged (as multiple side effects are listed under each individual report). 

Analysis of the HPRA system shows that the HPV vaccine has more reports of adverse reactions than all other vaccines combined for girls on the childhood vaccine schedule.

If your child has suffered health issues that you think may have been triggered by Gardasil, and you wish to get in contact with other parents who have had a similar experience, please contact us at: