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Jul 21, 2008 10:00 pm US/Central
Adverse Reactions Reported After Gardasil Shots
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
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Merck Gardiasil, human papillomavirus vaccine.
AP
The cervical cancer vaccine called Gardasil has been on the market for about two years. Thousands of girls and women across the country, who've received the series of shots, have reported painful and scary side effects and one Dallas family is going through a similar ordeal.
Seizures, temporary paralysis and excruciating pain – those are a few of the symptoms some have reported after taking Gardasil. It took months for a North Texas teen to recover and her family says the Gardasil shots are the only explanation that makes sense.
Dallas mother Michelle Kimzey saw the ads and heard all of the positive news about Gardasil and how it could help prevent cervical cancer. So when she took her 13-year-old daughter, Katherine, to the doctor, getting the vaccine was a 'no-brainer'.
"I thought, wow! When we left the office, I said, I just protected her from one more disease!"
Katherine got her first injection of Gardasil along with a Hepatitis-A vaccine and a chicken pox booster. She got the second injection two months later, along with the D-TaP vaccination.
Six weeks after the second injection of Gardasil, Katherine passed out. "I tried to get up and my neck was stiff, and I couldn't move it," the teenager explained. "I couldn't move at all."
Katherine spent five days in the hospital.
Before the Gardasil vaccine, Katherine was a healthy teen. Her mother suspected Gardasil had something to do with the sudden illness, but doctors ran every test they could think of and couldn't make the connection.
"The most definitive answer was, that's not it," Michelle Kimzey said. "We can't tell you what's wrong, but that's not it."
Barbara Loe Fisher is president of the National Vaccine Information Center, an independent, non-profit clearinghouse for information on vaccines and disease. She says nearly 100 parents, including Katherine's, have contacted the organization believing their daughters have suffered an adverse reaction following a Gardasil shot - at times- given in combination with other vaccines.
Fisher says the reports of complication have caused a real 'crisis of trust' in the hearts and minds of parents.
Since Gardasil won FDA approval, eight million shots have been given. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control say more than 9,000 adverse reactions have been reported. But only six-percent of those are considered serious and that's less than half of what is reported for most vaccines.
Dallas OBGYN Dr. Sheila Chhutani says half of all women will be infected with HPV at some point during their lives. She believes the small number of adverse reactions is far outweighed by the vaccine's benefits.
"So when you look at those numbers and compare them to the numbers of adverse affects with the Gardasil... to me, right now, there is still no comparison."
Dr. Chhutani offers Gardasil to patients between the ages of nine and 26. She will not however give the injection at the same time as other vaccines. Dr. Chhutani says there should be more investigation into whether Gardasil -- given in combination with other vaccines -- could cause an adverse reaction.
Shannon Nelson, 18, from the Chicago area, got the Gardasil shot and two other vaccines-- at the same time. Within a week the soccer star could barely move.
"When I went into the hospital I couldn't walk at all. I had to have a wheelchair. It just got worse each day," she explained.
Nelson spent 23 days in the hospital and while she's better now the teenager believes one of the vaccines she received is responsible for her illness and her neurologist says it's certainly possible.
Katherine Kimzey is back on the soccer field in North Texas. But she still has occasional pain and doesn't know what the future will hold. Thinking about her past experience she says she still worries and so does her mom.
Michelle Kimzey says next time; she won't be so quick to jump on the new vaccine bandwagon. "I think the connection is huge," she said.
The CDC is also looking into 17 reported deaths but doesn't believe Gardasil is to blame.
In a statement to CBS 11 News, Merck -- the maker of Gardasil -- said it has analyzed the reports of paralysis and death, and believes: no safety issue related to the vaccine has been identified.
Read the entire statement from Merck.
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