Wednesday, July 15, 2009

So Why ARE Gardasil Girls Suffering Fainting and Syncope?

Share
You knew it would happen just as soon as the FDA asked for an upgraded warning on Gardasil package inserts, drily explaining that an awful lot of girls seem to be fainting after their HPV vaccinations, and wouldn’t it be rather a good idea to monitor them and make them sit down. What with the possibility of suffering grievous injuries and all.

Well, duh.

But right on cue, here come the usually male-generated media and blog comments about how teenage girls faint all over the place anyway. Couldn’t possibly because of this particular vaccine. Here’s a typical comment:

“Now ask yourself: If you line up a bunch of giddy 13-year-old girls for an injection that has something to do with sex, cancer and genital warts, would you expect more or fewer than 2 in 10,000 to faint during the process?” The writer goes on to jokingly (one assumes) wonder whether Gardasil isn’t actually preventing mass fainting.

I don’t think I’ve heard a man wonder out loud whether the mention of sex—faugh, Sir!—wouldn’t make a woman faint since I read a cartload of 19th century novels in college a few decades ago.

Can there really be people out there who are unaware that the average 13-year old (and indeed the average 11 or 12 year old) is not only quite au fait with the oh-so-shivery idea of sex but, sadly, might even be quite practiced in the art of doing various unspeakable things? And that these kids have obligingly held out their arms to get stuck many, many times since infancy, usually without even asking what the damn needle is for?

Trust me, that’s not why they’re fainting. Even Merck is prepared to admit that the genetically-engineered ‘virus-like particles’ (VLPs) in this novel type of vaccine might have something to do with both the fainting and with the more severe and longer-lasting pain associated with Gardasil.

My own 16-year old has an almost pathological fear of needles. My ultimate threat when she breaks curfew is an acupuncture appointment (I know, but it’ll give her lots to talk about when she’s in therapy later). As a six year-old she actually bit the doctor who tried to give her an MMR booster, and last year literally back backed away like a startled horse over a truly fearsome shot being given her in preparation for a trip to India.

But she has never, not once, come even remotely close to fainting.

I’ll grant you that adolescent girls are more likely to be on faint-worthy crash diets than toddlers, so let’s look at the numbers reported to VAERS, the notoriously fallible vaccine adverse event reporting system. We’ll compare them to the numbers for Menactra, since it’s given to roughly the same crash-dieting teenage crowd.

2,172 girls have suffered syncope after being given the Gardasil vaccine. Out of 463 teens who’ve suffered syncope after the Menactra vaccine, 389 were girls and 6 sex unknown.

So roughly five and a half times as many girls have fainted after receiving the Gardasil vaccine as after Menactra, and Menactra has been on offer for about a year and a half longer than Gardasil, which went on sale in 2006, and is routinely given to both boys and girls. (Compare that to the chicken pox vaccine, part of vaccination programs for both sexes since 1995, with a total of 312 cases of post-vaccination syncope.)

Now you can merge those figures statistically into the population until they’re not there anymore. Even 2,172 cases are a blip among the millions of doses administered.

Or you can join the airheads who say, “FGS, would you rather your kid had cervical cancer than risk fainting? Mine will get the shot even if they’re laid out on the floor!” Totally ignoring, of course, the fact that it’s not an either/or choice and that a) the risk of cervical cancer is tiny b) Gardasil is only 17-45 percent effective in preventing pre-cancerous cells c) fainting isn’t the only potential side-effect and could be the sign of something else going on.

But I’d have a lot more respect for Merck, the CDC, the FDA, and yes, those bloggers, if they said, hang on. It’s probably nothing, but if over five times as many kids are fainting, shouldn’t we check it out? Is this the canary in the coal mine? Could VLPs, never before used, be having an effect we really know nothing about?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good point. My daughter never fainted with Menactra which she just had last week but she did with Gardasil.

Anonymous said...

The comment you quoted is very insulting. My daughter is very strong and well-balanced; she's an athlete and an honors student and she didn't give a thought to the Gardasil shot. She didn't get it with "giddy" friends, either, in fact I don't think most kids get vaccines together unless it's a school program and as far as I know Gardasil isn't given in schools.

She passed out cold when she got the shot, which made me research it. Like you, I wonder why this shot in particular is making girls pass out. She won't be getting the next two shots unless I get a good answer.

Saying that girls faint because they're giddy and horrified by sex is just plain dumb and not at all responsible. The media should ask intelligent questions, not make fun of medical issues.

Marcie said...

My son passed out within three minutes of receiving the Gardasil vaccine. Something is going on with this drug and the FDA needs to figure it out! He will not be getting the second or third shot. I caught him within a second of his head smashing into the floor!

Marcie said...

My son passed out within three minutes of receiving the Gardasil vaccine. Something is going on with this drug and the FDA needs to figure it out! He will not be getting the second or third shot. I caught him within a second of his head smashing into the floor!

ArrogantContender said...

I havent read in any article what causes fainting. What about this vaccine can cause fainting?

Anonymous said...

Today my almost 12 year old received gardasilhpv. She had no idea what she was getting or what it was to prevent. Therefore not giddy. that was a Ridiculous comment. She has Never had a fear of needles. I had no knowledge of the chance of fainting. The nurse sat her up on the high table and gave her the shot. Then turned her back and walked to other side of room. I was not sitting near my daughter. Without warning, She instantly passed out and fell head first... to the floor. A sound that a parent NEVER wants to hear is their child's head smashing into a concrete floor. A limp, passed out body pushing all of it's weight into the fall and smashing it's unconscious brain into an unforgiving floor and twisting her neck into a forced, unnatural position. Brain injury and neck injury. Trip to doc for vaccine and we wound up going to E.R. I am LIVID. No warnings were given. And at a place that we trust to protect our children. Something needs to be done. Warnings please. And proper protocol. If a patient or parent chooses this vaccine: LAY YOUR PATIENT DOWN FOR VACCINE! And answers... why is this happening??? Safe?

Anonymous said...

Today my almost 12 year old received gardasilhpv. She had no idea what she was getting or what it was to prevent. Therefore not giddy. that was a Ridiculous comment. She has Never had a fear of needles. I had no knowledge of the chance of fainting. The nurse sat her up on the high table and gave her the shot. Then, the nurse turned her back and walked to other side of room. I was not sitting near my daughter. Without warning, instantly, upon receiving HPV, my daughter passed out and fell head first... to the floor from her perch up on that exam table. A sound that a parent NEVER wants to hear is their child's head smashing into a concrete floor. A limp, passed out body pushing all of it's weight into the fall and smashing it's unconscious brain into an unforgiving floor and twisting her neck into a forced, unnatural position. Brain injury and neck injury. Trip to doc for vaccine turned into a trip to the E.R. I am LIVID. No warnings were given. And at a place that we trust to protect our children. Something needs to be done. Warnings please. And proper protocol. If a patient or guardian of patient chooses this vaccine: LAY YOUR PATIENT DOWN FOR VACCINE! And answers... why is this happening??? Safe?

Donna Murphy said...

My 14 year old daughter fainted/passed out after having this vaccine this morning. She said it didn’t hurt, yet a few minutes later as we were walking to the car she said she felt dizzy. Next thing I know, she was twitching/jerking, her eyes went wide open with no blinking, and then she went rigid. Thankfully I was standing right next to her and was able to catch her so she didn’t fall on the concrete. I was scared to death that she was dying in my arms. I yelled for help and prayed over her. They brought a wheelchair and took her back inside. They told me not to worry, that she would be ok...this happens a lot. Oh really? Then why wasn’t I told/warned??? I am so angry. No parent should have to go through this. FYI I had researched this a couple of years ago and my 2 older daughters had it with no adverse effect so I didn’t remember this was a possibility.

Anonymous said...

Donna, is your daughter OK? My daughter fainted also, now i am concerned about other side effects. Did she have any other adverse side affects after that day?