Gary Null PhD and Nancy Ashley VMD, MS - Gardasil: Does it Heal or Does it Kill?

The Gardasil vaccine against human papillomavirus has been much profiled in the news recently and the news isn’t good.  Despite continued incidents of serious, life-altering adverse reactions, including paralysis and death, and despite questionable efficacy and safety studies that allowed this vaccine to come to market in the first place, the push to force the Gardasil vaccine on our children has been relentless and seems to be picking up speed.   The following is a review of the more significant and far reaching stories that surfaced, mostly under the radar of the general public, during the past four weeks.

October 9:  The Gardasil Bill

California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law bill AB 499 which takes away a parent’s right to make medical decisions for their child by allowing children as young as 12 to consent to the Gardasil vaccine as a way to fight sexually transmitted diseases.1 Since children in California already had the right to seek “diagnosis and treatment” of medical care, and even abortion without parental consent, this bill seemed solely designed to sell Gardasil by adding the technical change to existing law of “consenting to preventative services.”2   How are children supposed to be able to research the safety and efficacy of a vaccine when it is a formidable challenge for the average adult to wade through the minefield of hype and marketing to ferret out the truth?  And when have children ever demonstrated the capacity to resist advertising?  Intense marketing pressure by Merck will persuade them that they will be saving their lives by getting the vaccine.  It is unlikely that this full court press against the freedom to make decisions for our children will stop with California, so be prepared for a state by state fight as we continue to watch our rights being eroded by corporate influence.

Oct. 19:  More reports of serious adverse effects following Gardasil.
Judicial Watch was able to obtain new documents from the FDA regarding the details of adverse events following vaccination with Gardasil.  These include 26 deaths between September 1, 2010, and September 15, 2011, as well as incidents of seizures, paralysis, blindness, pancreatitis, speech problems, short term memory loss, and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. 3   The CDC’s response to concerns raised by Judicial Watch was the usual denial:  Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS ) data cannot be used to prove that an adverse event was caused by a vaccine because the information is “anecdotal” rather than from a randomized double blind, placebo controlled study.4  The CDC therefore does not  draw any conclusions from these reports, and continues to recommend HPV vaccination for the prevention “of most types of cervical cancer,” despite the fact that there is no evidence that HPV vaccination prevents cervical cancer at all!  With shocking mendacity, the CDC concludes their response by stating that, “Any problems detected with these vaccines will be reported to health officials, healthcare providers, and the public and needed action will be taken to ensure the public’s health and safety.”5    One wonders what would prompt them to take this needed action since they maintain that crippling illness and death caused by Gardasil are merely a coincidence.

Oct. 25:  Boys also to be routinely vaccinated with Gardasil.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices unanimously recommended that 11 – 12 year old boys should be routinely vaccinated with Gardasil to prevent cancer and genital warts despite the lack of convincing data to show that HPV-related cancer is even prevalent in men or that vaccinating boys will prevent cervical cancer in girls, or that the vaccine can prevent genital warts.6   While the vaccination of boys with Gardasil was previously rejected as not being cost effective, presumably the poor rate of vaccination among girls is causing Merck to push for the opening of other markets in which to sell their expensive vaccine. Dr. Anne Schuchat director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, actually stated during a CDC press briefing that, “There’s been a disappointing uptake (i.e. vaccination rate) among teen girls. HPV vaccination of males offers an opportunity to decrease the burden of HPV-related disease in both males and females.”

Oct. 27:  Industry-funded research finds yet another new use for Gardasil -- gay men.
The New England Journal of Medicine published a Merck-funded study entitled, “HPV vaccine against anal HPV infection and anal intraepithelial neoplasia,” which ostensibly demonstrates the effectiveness of Gardasil in preventing anal cancer caused by men having sex with men, but, like similar studies in women, falls far short of proving its point.7   This biased and poorly-designed study seems to have been done simply to promote the Gardasil vaccine to yet another target group.   So get ready for a marketing onslaught of Gardasil ads directed towards adult homosexuals.

In order to understand why it is not in the best interest of our daughters and sons to promote the use of Gardasil, let’s recap some of the major points from Part I of our original investigative series on vaccines, “A Case of Contamination: Growing Concern over the Safety and Efficacy of Merck’s Gardasil HPV Vaccine.





Why the Gardasil vaccine was unnecessary in the first place

• HPV usually clears on its own:  70% of infections are gone in 1 year and 90% are gone in 2 years.8

• Cervical cancer is an uncommon consequence of HPV infections in women:  CDC and WHO estimate that only 4,100 women in the US die of cervical cancer annually, compared with 69,000 women who die of lung cancer annually.  Progression from cervical lesions to invasive cancer is a slow process, and can take up to 20 years.  If detected early through regular pap tests and managed promptly, survival rates for cervical cancer are over 90%.9

• Of the women who die from cervical cancer, the CDC estimates that half of these deaths will occur in women who have never had a pap test and an additional 10% in women who have not had a pap test in the past 5 years.10

• Cervical cancer has other causes aside from the human papillomavirus, and is not exclusively sexually transmitted.11

• An annual pap test has reduced the occurrence of cervical cancer significantly over the past 40 years and continues to be the best defense against cervical cancer.12

Why is the Gardasil vaccine not advisable?

Lack of Efficacy

• Gardasil is not a cancer vaccine, it is a virus vaccine.  Gardasil contains only four strains of human papillomavirus.  Two viral strains, 6 and 11, cause genital warts, while strains 16 and 18, can go on to cause cervical cancer.  There are 15 strains of human papillomavirus that have been identified so far which can lead to cancer, but Gardasil only has the capacity to target two of these.13

• A woman can still get cervical cancer despite the vaccine, and still needs an annual pap test to protect herself from cervical cancer.14

• According to Merck, Gardasil only demonstrated efficacy for 2. 5 years with respect to HPV 6, 11, and 18, and 3.5 years with HPV 16, after which antibodies wane significantly.  If a girl is vaccinated at 12, the vaccine will have worn off by the time she is 17.15

• Gardasil was not tested in girls under 15, or in boys under 16, yet it is approved for use in children as young as 9.  Merck was allowed to use results in women 15 and older  and in males 16 and over to infer a similar response in children.16

• Effectiveness claims are misleading – Gardasil has not been shown to prevent cervical cancer.   According to the lead researcher in both the Gardasil and the Cervarix studies, Gardasil clinical trials only demonstrated a rise in antibodies following vaccination.17   So called randomized, double blind, placebo controlled studies funded by Merck and still ongoing have as their end point the reduction of the incidence of high grade cervical lesions, which they hypothesize go on to produce cervical cancer (without proof or scientific consensus that they do). 18 None of this demonstrates that Gardasil has ever prevented cervical cancer.

• If a woman already has HPV, the vaccine is not effective.19

Lack of Safety

• In safety studies, Gardasil was tested not against saline, but against a highly reactive aluminum-containing placebo.  Aluminum is known to be neurotoxic and can cause many serious problems, including permanent nerve damage.  Since the safety studies showed a number of adverse reactions to the “placebo,” the result was that Gardasil appeared safer compared to the so-called placebo than it would have next to a non-reactive substance such as saline.20

• As of April 2011, over 20,000 adverse events including 90 deaths have been reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).  These include:  Guillain-Barre Syndrome, blood clots, paralysis, stroke, seizures, neurological damage, loss of control of muscles and movement, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), warts over face and body, and death.21

• Abortion and stillbirth events from Gardasil far exceed other vaccines.22

• Women who already have HPV prior to vaccination could suffer massive outbreaks of genital warts or abnormal precancerous lesions, yet screening for HPV prior to vaccination is not recommended. 23

• It was discovered in September that Gardasil is contaminated with human papillomavirus DNA.  The consequences of having genetically engineered recombinant DNA of a potentially carcinogenic virus injected into the human body and taken up into cells is unknown.24

The fraud of Gardasil opens the door to unconscionable greed and state tyranny under the guise of protecting children – and now adults.  First an anti cancer vaccine, Gardasil is now being repackaged as an anti STD vaccine, merely in pursuit of profits.  While a pap test never killed anyone, the same cannot be said of Gardasil.  It is important to say no to this dangerous vaccine in order to protect our children.  

1. McGreevy P and York A, “Brown clearing more than 140 bills ahead of deadline, “Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2011
2. AB 499 – Minors:  Medical Care and Consent Bill.
3. Judicial Watch, “Judicial Watch Uncovers FDA Gardasil Records Detailing 26 New Reported Deaths”, Judicialwatch.org, October 19, 2011.
4. CDC, “Reports of Health Concerns Following HPV Vaccination,” CDC.gov, October 21, 2011.
5. Ibid
6. AAFP News Now, “ACIP Expands HPV Vaccine Recommendation to Adolescent Boys,” Posted: 10/26/2011  
7. Palefsky J, “HPV Vaccine against Anal HPV Infection and Anal Intraepithelial Neoplasia,” New England Journal of Medicine, 2011; 365:1576-1585; October 27, 2011.
8. CDC, “Report to Congress:  Prevention of Gentital Human Papillomavirus Infection.” January 2004.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. “HPV Vaccine Researcher Blasts Mandatory Marketing,” Alliance for Human Research Protection, March 13, 2007, ahrp.org.
12. CDC, “Report to Congress:  Prevention of Gentital Human Papillomavirus Infection.” January 2004.
13. Judicial Watch, “Examining the FDA’s HPV Vaccine Records, June 30, 2008.
14. Yerman M, “An Interview with Dr. Diane Harper, HPV Expert,” Huffington Post, December 23, 2009.
15. Judicial Watch, “Examining the FDA’s HPV Vaccine Records, June 30, 2008.
16. An Interview with Cindy Bevington, The Gary Null Show, September 15, 2011.
17. Yerman M, “An Interview with Dr. Diane Harper, HPV Expert,” Huffington Post, December 23, 2009.
18. Future II Study Group, “Quadrivalent Vaccine against Human Papilomavirus to Prevent High-Grade Cervical Lesions,” New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 356, No 19, May 10, 2007.
19. CDC, “Report to Congress:  Prevention of Gentital Human Papillomavirus Infection.” January 2004.
20. Judicial Watch, “Examining the FDA’s HPV Vaccine Records, June 30, 2008.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid
24. SANE Vax Inc. Reports Human Papillomavirus DNA Contamination in Gardasil To FDA, Requests Public Safety Investigation, Business Wire. Sept. 6, 2011, 10:00 a.m. EDT