Cervical cancer vaccine - Japan no longer recommends because of side effects concern

[Crumbledwalnuts]

there are quite a lot of different places this story is written, this is one of them

It's not being withdrawn but the government isn't recommending it any more. At least for now, while it investigates.

Interesting...I wonder which one they use.

interesting...my initial thoughts were that they would have used a less concentrated dosage but I dont think thats possible with a vaccine ??

they use both Cervarix and Gardasil here

I think that you can choose which one to use

The girl who is now in a wheelchair was vaccinated with Cervarix. Her mum is behind a campaign to ban the vaccine

very timely for me as my DD is 15 and was due to be vaccinated in the next few months.

will hold off for now

Terrible isn't it. Also pretty bad that it's not well-known. Mainstream media running scared I think.

Bump

DD has had the vaccines. I did a lot of research and spoke to her consultant and our GP (she has joint problems) and they all advised me to go ahead with it. So far she has been fine.

I'm glad your daughter is fine, BB. I researched too, and decided not to go ahead. I'm very happy with my choice, though I think it's quite unusual in the UK.

My sister had the vaccine then has a stoke 2 days later. Could be a coincidence but unlikely

I admit that I had major reservations about going ahead with it and wouldn't dream of criticising anyone who decided not to. I guess it is one of those things where it is easier to minimise the risks of HPV than it is with the diseases the MMR vaccinates against.

God, forever, I'm so sorry for you and your sister.

Yes Bunbaker I'm planning to pay for private smear tests for my duaghter until she's 25.

I hope your sister made a full recovery forevergreek. What a dreadful thing to happen.

She has pretty much ( 18 months on), but used a wheelchair until around Easter this year. Still needs sometimes.

I'm also all for mmr etc but this just doesn't seem to have had the research as a very new idea / vaccine

Gosh forever thats terribly sad. Glad to hear she is improving. I guess we will never know exactly what caused the stroke but it must be impossible not to seperate the two.

How old is she ?

Generally I am very pro vaccinations but chose not to go ahead with this for my 16 year old daughter at the moment.

Forevergreek - I am glad your sister is better. What do the doctors say what caused the stroke?

She is 13. They aren't sure but have had similar cases with others so haven't excluded. Like you say you can't really say yes or no for sure, but my parents wish they had researched as just assumed it was very safe ( as I never had as wasn't around years ago- big age gap between us)

I was just interested in which alternative explanations the docs would have come up with. Paediatric stroke is not exactly a frequent occurrence (background levels are about 0.8 in 10'000) and risk factors could be worth following up (like clotting disorders, vessel malformations). Most cases of paediatric stroke I know of (4 of 5) were a consequence of chicken pox infection - the other child had a heart malformation. A complete work up to exclude something lurking is important (may have been done).

Bump. All the best to your sister Forever.

Story broke a week before my dd1 was due her vaccination, about a local girl who collapsed and died after her jab at school. Was a couple of years ago, spoke to some other mums, one a nurse, one a doctor and one who worked for the vaccination team and all were not going to let their dd's have the jab.

They all thought it was too risky, too early to document any side effects and all a bit russian roulette.

So both my dd's have not the vaccine, when health professionals weren't willing to risk their dd's, I'm happy with my decision.

I think it's fair enough to withdraw the recommendation. People who want it can still have it.

Lots of side effects reported in Australia. They give it to boys there, too. I find it very hard to support this vaccine, especially when there are so many known factors which increase the risk of cervical cancer, not just HPV. I'd rather see a programme educating on the links between cervical cancer and smoking, for example. Or testing the levels of folic acid in young women, as deficiency and even insufficiency is strongly associated with cervical dysplasia.

MissPlum: I did not know that about folic acid. That's interesting, I'm going to try to find a paper.

Here's the study

Thanks Miss Plum. I'm going to do something about that!

MissPlum - are you saying young women are not educated on the risks of smoking?

I wish boys were offered the HPV vaccine on the NHS, would save me some money

I think your grin is rather misplaced there Caterina.

I've not seen anything about folic acid and cervical dysplasia at all. I think it's really helpful.