Experts from leading organisations have pledged to boost the uptake of the HPV vaccine among teen girls in Ireland, amid fears that women will die as a result of failing rates.
According to The Irish Times, groups have banded together to form the HPV Vaccination Alliance, in a bid to tackle the misinformation surrounding Gardasil.
Currently, teenage girls in Ireland are offered the vaccine during their first year of secondary school. It is offered in two doses, via injection, in six-month instalments; it is designed to protect against Human Papilloma Virus, which is linked to various strains of cervical cancer.
While uptake of the vaccine was at an 87 percent high just two years ago, that rate has dropped to just 50 percent in the last year.
Speaking this week, representatives of the Irish Cancer Society blamed the dropping rates on supposed misinformation and fear-mongering that has been spread regarding alleged side-effects of the vaccine.
With the HPV Vaccine Alliance, they are hoping to boost the rate of uptake of the vaccine amid fears that, otherwise, ‘at least 40 women will die from cervical cancer’.
While the Department of Health has always insisted that there is no proof to back them up, a number of Irish families claim that the vaccine has had a debilitating impact on their daughters’ lives.
Indeed, one victim support group, R.E.G.R.E.T, has gone public with a number of witness testaments. On its website, there is an entire page dedicated to first-person accounts of serious illness suffered after receiving the vaccine.
Among the ‘serious health problems’ allegedly developed after the vaccine are loss of power in limbs, extreme exhaustion, seizures, temporary loss of vision, and fever.
Despite the powerful and hard-hitting accounts, the Government has stood by the original research.
Now, the HPV Vaccine Alliance is throwing its support behind the message that the vaccine is a ‘proven and safe way to protect from cancers which can destroy and end lives’.
Amid the controversy, MummyPages previously examined the facts surrounding the HPV vaccine. According to research, the aforementioned symptoms are not known side-effects of the vaccine.
Other leading medical organisations, such as the European Medicines Agency, have also confirmed that there is no need to change licensing for the vaccine.
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