Gardasil causing adverse events or is it just the patient population

Aug/11/2008 08:03

According to a video report on CNN.com, there have been 9,749 adverse events and 21 deaths from Gardasil since 2006. Rather than reassure the patient population Merck issues the following statement “Merck has analyzed the adverse events reported for GARDASIL relating to the recent reports of death and paralysis, and based on the data available to Merck, believes that no safety issue related to the vaccine has been identified. These types of events are events that could also be seen in the general population, even in the absence of vaccination. An adverse experience report describes an event that occurred after vaccination and does not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused or contributed to the event. The vast majority of adverse events that have been reported to Merck are non-serious and the most common include dizziness and syncope (fainting).

When CNN profiles a story of a young teenage girl, who after receiving Gardasil, has an autoimmune disease you had better believe that a LOT of people are going to take notice. 9,749 adverse events is a lot to most people and Merck needs to step up and reassure people that this product is indeed safe rather than issue the standard “we are looking at the data”. The Judicial Center has even stated that the current patients who received the product are the current clinical trial and that these people are al just guinea pigs.

So what comes first here sales or patient safety? On the one hand there is a vaccine which could save thousands of lives but at what cost? Rather than take the high road and warn physicians and patients, in addition to studying the data, Merck has decided to say that this could be as a result of the patient population. Yeah, that makes people feel real good about the product and the associated risks. Once again we have pharma putting sales above patients health.

screenshot_01