Feds sued for secrets on HPV vaccine deaths

WASHINGTON – A widely popular HPV vaccine the federal government has recommended for girls and boys as young as 11 has caused thousands of adverse reactions, including seizures, paralysis, blindness, pancreatitis, speech problems, short-term memory loss, Guillain-Barré syndrome and even death.

Now a government watchdog is suing the federal government, demanding it release records related to the vaccine for the sexually transmitted disease human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Judicial Watch announced that it filed a Feb. 14, 2013, Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services to obtain those records. The group is seeking records related to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, or VICP, a program that compensates patients who have been adversely affected by vaccines.

The HHS website describes the program as a "no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system."

Judicial Watch wants all records relating to the VICP, any documented injuries or deaths associated with HPV vaccines and all records of compensation paid to the claimants following injury or death allegedly associated with the HPV vaccines.

HHS originally received the FOIA request on Nov. 2, 2012. The department was required by law to respond by Dec. 4. However, as of the date of Judicial Watch's lawsuit, the agency has failed to provide the documents, indicate when a response is forthcoming or explain why the records should be exempted from disclosure.

The number of successful claims made under the VICP to victims of HPV will provide further information about any dangers of the vaccine, including the number of well-substantiated cases of adverse reactions.

According to the Annals of Medicine: "At present there are no significant data showing that either Gardasil or Cervarix (GlaxoSmithKline) can prevent any type of cervical cancer since the testing period employed was too short to evaluate long-term benefits of HPV vaccination."

"From the very beginning the federal government has attempted to shield the public from the truth about Gardasil," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. "Despite safety concerns, the vaccine continues to be pushed for both girls and boys.

"For the supposed most transparent administration in history to stonewall on an urgent matter of public health is particularly galling."

In addition to obtaining records from the FDA through the agency's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which has documented thousands of adverse reactions to Gardasil, Judicial Watch also published a special report in 2008 detailing Gardasil's approval process, side effects, safety concerns and marketing practices.

As WND has reported:

• There are more than 100 strains of HPV; Gardasil and Cervarix, the most commonly prescribed vaccines, offer protection against two of them.

• Even then, the staying power of the vaccine is only five years.

• Cervical cancer is preventable without the vaccine. Because it takes so long for HPV to develop into cancer, there's time to head it off it with regular Pap tests.

• There are serious side effects including, occasionally, sudden death. Many Gardasil recipients experience normal vaccine aftermath like redness, soreness and fainting. But thousands of women have also reported crippling fatigue, paralysis, blindness, or autoimmune complications. Some have even died, according to CDC and FDA data.

Dr. Joseph Mercola has noted that the pharmaceutical companies making billions from the vaccines have spent a substantial portion of those revenues on promoting the drugs to doctors, universities, health journals, the Food and Drug Administration and CDC.

Mercola cited other side effects, including:

• Bell's Palsy and Guillan-Barre syndrome;
• seizures;
• cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer;
• blood clotting and heart problems, including cardiac arrest;
• miscarriages and fetal abnormalities amongst pregnant women;
• vaccinated women show an increased number of precancerous lesions caused by strains of HPV other than HPV-16 and HPV-18.

"It's clear to me that this is another case where the precautionary principle needs to be applied, as currently no one knows exactly whether or not the vaccine will have any measurable effect as far as lowering cervical cancer rates," Mercola said.

"The results will not be fully apparent until a few decades from now, and in the meantime, countless young girls are being harmed, and we still do not know how Gardasil will affect their long-term health, even if they do not experience any acute side effects."