Jul 9, 2008 9:19 pm US/Central
Is HPV Vaccine Linked To Teen's Paralysis?
Shannon Nelson Began Suffering Numbness Days After Getting Vaccine For Cervical Cancer
(CBS)
It's a vaccine that could protect young girls from cervical cancer when they're older. Advocates are pushing for girls as young as 11 to get the series of three shots. But others fear there may be long-lasting and very painful side effects.
CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez looks at the HPV vaccine and asks: is it safe?
Many parents have seen ads urging them to let their teenage daughters get the vaccine Gardasil. It protects against some strains of the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which are linked to cervical and possibly other cancers. That's why many doctors strongly recommend it.
Dr. Lauren Streicher, an OB/GYN at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said "This virus is responsible for many, many serious illnesses, and it's actually very exciting that we have something that is totally preventative in many cases."
That's why 18-year-old Shannon Nelson got the shot last summer.
"I didn't want to get it, but I guess I wanted to be safe for the future," Nelson said. She got three vaccinations that day; one for HPV, one for meningitis and one for chickenpox.
Within a week, the soccer player and track runner could barely move.
"At first my outer fingers, like my pinkies were going numb and my outer toes were getting numb," Nelson said. She spent 23 days in the hospital diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disorder which causes varying degrees of paralysis.
Nelson is better now, but believes one of the vaccines she got is responsible and her neurologist said it's certainly possible.
Since Gardasil won FDA approval in June 2006, 8 million shots have been given. The CDC said that 7,800 adverse reactions have been reported since then; only 7 percent of those are considered serious and that's less than half of what it is for most vaccines.
The CDC is also looking into 10 reported deaths, but doesn't believe Gardasil is to blame.
Dr. Diane Harper helped research the HPV vaccine for Merck, which makes Gardasil. She said it's definitely too early to require the vaccine for pre-teens as some states are trying to do.
"I see red lights flashing. This is a real danger zone," Harper said. She's even opposed to federal guidelines which simply suggest the vaccine for girls as young as 11.
"I would have started at 15, not at 12," Harper said. Although she feels the vaccine is generally safe, she's also worried about side effects and she says that not enough is known about how long the protection lasts.
"Of course that concerns me. I think the thought is that there probably will be efficacy for longer than 5 years, but it's probably not going to be lifetime efficacy. There probably will be some need for a booster," Harper said.
A bill requiring the HPV vaccine for school entry did not pass in Illinois this year, so getting it remains voluntary.
"Just as you put a seatbelt on your child when you put them in the car, you wouldn't think of going out without doing that, why would you not take the opportunity to protect your child in this way as well?" Streicher said.
Nelson continues her recovery, but still deals with flare-ups of her symptoms.
"They said I could feel numb for years, you know, have weakness for years," Nelson said. "I tell everybody I meet not to get it; everyone, everywhere."
Streicher has done paid speaking engagements about Gardasil for Merck.
Harper has researched Gardasil as well as another HPV vaccine for Merck's competitor, GlaxoSmithKline. She has received both speaking and consultation fees from both drug companies in addition to the money paid to her university, Dartmouth Medical School, to conduct trials.
In a statement released Wednesday, Merck said it has analyzed the reports of paralysis and death. "No safety issue related to the vaccine has been identified," the company said. "These types of events are events that could also be seen in the general population even in the absence of vaccination. ... We remain confident in the safety profile of Gardasil."
You can read Merck's entire statement here.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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