Parents of young girls should educate themselves about Gardasil

In a few weeks, parents of girls aged 12 and 13 will be asked an important question based on limited information and a lot of trust.

The question is whether to give consent for a vaccine called Gardasil, which is marketed as “protecting your daughter now and in the future” from cervical cancer.

The European Medicines Agency has been asked by doctors in Denmark to carry out more safety studies, because a large number of girls in the country have experienced, “symptoms consistent with pronounced autonomic dysfunction, including different degrees of orthostatic intolerance, severe non-migraine-like headache, excessive fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, gastrointestinal discomfort and widespread pain of a neuropathic character”.

Some doctors there estimate that the rate of serious side-effects could be as high as 200 per 100,000 girls.

To put this into perspective, 13 women out of 100,000 get cervical cancer here in Ireland.

Unfortunately, many girls here in Ireland have also had reactions to the vaccine.

Currently, Regret ( [e-mail] ) are compiling a register of girls who think they may be affected by the vaccine.

If you are a parent with a daughter starting secondary school, weigh up the risks and benefits of the vaccine before you sign the form.

Catherine Weitbrecht

Letterbarrow

Donegal Town