Healthy Skepticism Library item: 8818

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Publication type: report

Ayoub D, McDonough K, Conrick T,Blakey C
What is wrong with the HPV vaccine mandate in Illinois?
Springfield, Illinois: Prairie Collaborative for Immunization Safety 2007 Mar 5
http://www.vaproject.org/ayoub/what-is-wrong-with-hpv-20070305.htm

Notes:

Summary:

1) Cervical cancer in Illinois is responsible for only about 200 annual deaths and rates have steadily declined. Nearly all cancers are preventable with a simple Pap test at a fraction of the cost of the vaccine.

2) The HPV vaccine is a unique type of vaccine with no prior clinical experience. The potential for benefit is not nearly as great as the potential for widespread harm if mandated for thousands of children.

3) Merck has funded most HPV vaccine clinical trials and the majority authorship of published papers suggests considerable potential for extensive reporting bias. Over 40% of study co-authors are Merck employees and 81% had received money from Merck.

4) Since cancer requires years to develop the effectiveness if the vaccine is totally hypothetical. Even a Merck executive has recently admitted that vaccine efficacy in women under 15 years is unknown.

5) The HPV vaccine suffers a significant adverse reaction rate (90%) as reported in published trials and also in VAERS. There are no long-term safety studies yet over 500 reports of vaccine failures or adverse reactions have already been reported to the FDA. Gardasil contains a large quantity of a neurotoxin, aluminum at doses that are known to cause neurological damage in animals.

6) Targeting 11 year-old girls is unadvisable, since few studies have assessed children this young. Over one-third of all adverse Gardasil vaccine reactions recently reported to VAERS were in children 16 years old or younger.

7) Since influenza kills ten-times as many individuals as cervical cancer yet flu vaccination is not mandated, HPV mandates can’t be just about “saving more lives”.

8) Even the CDC has recently stated that HPV vaccine should NOT be mandated.

Updated March 5, 2007

Thank you for considering a bill that will potentially reduce a dangerous cancer in women. Based upon our review of the safety and effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, we cannot support this legislation and that the available data suggests that use of the HPV vaccine in Illinois should be highly restricted to IRB-approved, closely supervised clinical trials.

A review of the facts about cervical cancer raises doubts about the role of preventative immunization. There are only about 3,700 annual cervical cancer deaths in the United States, less than 1% of all total cancer deaths and the 6th leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Furthermore, there have already been sharp declines in the incidence of cervical cancer. Hospitalization rates have dropped 36% since 1994.¹ According to the National Cancer Institute, mortality rates have declined 75% since the Pap test was widely implemented over 50 years ago and recent studies indicate mortality rates are still declining.²,³ Nearly all cervical cancer deaths are preventable by a simple Pap test and appropriate follow-up. In Illinois there are only about 200 annual cervical cancer deaths but nearly 20% of women in our state do not receive recommended Pap screening.⁴,⁵ Therefore, simply improving access to Pap tests can further reduce cervical cancer in Illinois. The HPV immunization series would cost at least $360 but doctors may charge up to three-times that to patients. A Pap test costs about $50. The annual cost of Pap smears, about $1.6 billion in the U.S., is about three-times lower than the projected sales for Gardasil. Other risk factors for cervical cancer such as tobacco and birth control pill use and sexual promiscuity represent modifiable risks. Therefore, risk education and promoting abstinence, monogamy or condom use can further reduce HPV transmission.

The rationale to prevent cervical cancer is based upon its association with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Although most women will at some time become infected with HPV the overwhelming majority will not progress to invasive cancer. It is easy to question the rationale of forced vaccination of 80,000-90,000 11 year-old Illinois school girls (at a cost of at least $28 million) against a sexually transmitted disease that affects adult women.

Effectiveness of the HPV vaccine unproven. The Gardasil product insert states that the goal of vaccination is to prevent the development of pathological changes in the cervix that are known precursors to invasive carcinoma; however, the length of time required to develop invasive cancer after identification of precursor lesions averages between 8.1 to 12.6 years and may require up to 40 years.⁶ Since published vaccine trials have only assessed outcomes in women for two years or less after vaccination, prevention of cervical cancer is a highly optimistic claim. By the time a vaccinated child turns 18 years-old they will be well beyond Merck’s testing period for known protection and still two-three decades younger than when cervical cancer typically develops.

Not all cervical cancers are related to HPV. Since the vaccine currently targets only four HPV viruses that are known to cause about 70% of all cervical cancers, prevention of all cases of HPV-related cancer is highly unlikely. There are 30 known high-risk HPV strains but the vaccine targets only two. Only 3.4% of women are infected with any one of the of HPV strains in Gardasil, less than 2% when considering only high-risk strains.⁷

This novel type of vaccine even possesses the potential to worsen cervical cancer. If HPV virus types compete to colonize the cervix, then the prevalence of competing strains not targeted by the vaccine could increase. If these virus types are more aggressive, cervical cancer could still develop or worse develop into a more lethal form. NIH researcher Dr. Joseph DeSoto stated similar concerns: “These are incomplete vaccines which will not do what they are supposed to do and that’s prevent cervical cancer.”⁸

Even though Merck claims that Gardasil is virtually 100% successful in preventing HPV infection, a recent report filed in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) described the development of cervical infection with a “high-risk” HPV vaccine strain only three years after Gardasil immunization and seroconversion.⁹ So far VAERS has reported 12 vaccination failures, including three reports of genital warts, six cases of abnormal Pap smears and three HPV infections. Merck executive director of medical affairs, Richard Haupt has recently admitted “In the 9 to 15 year-old age group, we could not do an efficacy study.”¹⁰

Major concerns about Gardasil vaccine safety. Since vaccine effectiveness is not established and methods do exist to prevent cervical cancer, tolerance for vaccination risk should be very low. The vaccine package insert assures that Merck’s HPV vaccine failed to detect adverse outcomes, including reproductive harm, in experimental animal studies. Unfortunately, HPV is only pathogenic to HUMANS and the applicability of animal studies is problematic. The National Vaccine Information Center is a consumer vaccine safety organization tracking adverse vaccine events reported to VAERS. Their recent analysis of VAERS reports revealed an alarming and increasing number of complications since the FDA approved Gardasil for use on June 8th, 2006.¹¹ There were a total of 385 unduplicated reports over a 6-month period ending December 31, 2006 (The current reports in VAERS were 542 according to a more recent CDC announcement¹²). These reports may represent as few as 1% of the true incidence of reactions due to the passive nature of the reporting system. NVIC stated there were a disproportionately large percentage of complications reported in women ≤ 16-years old (38%), representing a subgroup that was the least evaluated in Merck’s safety studies. Five reactions were life threatening and six were “disabling”. Two-thirds of reports described the necessity for additional medical care including hospitalization (12). The majority of reported reactions occurred within 24 hours of vaccination leaving little doubt about causation. Frequently reported events included syncope/fainting (62), seizures (6), hypesthesia/paresthesia (34), and Guillain-Barre Syndrome (5).

The aluminum concern. Gardasil contains an aluminum adjuvant that assists in development of a proper immune response but it is also a known neurotoxin with little safety testing. The concentration of aluminum in Gardasil is 25 mg/L or 18,000 times higher than what the FDA considers safe in injectable products.¹³ Aluminum has been shown to cause behavior and memory impairment associated with death of motor neurons in animals at doses of 10-11 micrograms/kg.¹⁴ The Gardasil immunization series will expose 11 year-old girls to approximately 17 micrograms/kg, doses above that known to be neurotoxic in animals Reports of neurological events following immunization with Gardasil are therefore not surprising if not predictable.

Published papers touting vaccine safety and efficacy are not credible. Bias in Gardasil research authorship is strong. Review of five major studies published in peer-reviewed journals indicated that all studies were funded by Merck and Co.¹⁵ Of the 69 listed co-authors, 81% had financial connections to Merck, 42% were actual Merck employees, presumably holding stock/options and therefore were positioned to financially benefit from their own favorable reporting. In four of five papers a co-author was actually a Gardasil patent holder.

There are several striking and disturbing parallels between Merck’s missteps with Vioxx research and the current research surrounding Gardasil. Vioxx was introduced by Merck in 1999 as a safe alternative to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs but was later withdrawn due to serious cardiovascular complications, including as many as 100,000 deaths over five years. The details are summarized in a recent feature article in the British Medical Journal (January 20th, 2007):

- Merck had prior knowledge of potential cardiovascular reactions to Vioxx but intentionally designed subsequent studies to obscure such risks.

- Merck financed and produced nine studies touting Vioxx safety and effectiveness having establishing influence over data analysis, safety monitoring and reporting. Design flaws included small sample sizes, selection of low-risk patients, short follow-up and pooling of data.

- A major journal editor condemned published studies, claiming Merck had withheld critical data, obscuring serious complications. Companies hired by Merck had ghostwritten some publications.

- Merck faces nearly 30,000 legal claims due to serious and undisclosed drug complications.

Merck’s behaviors could be better classified as criminal than biased. Following a similar pattern to Merck’s Vioxx research, Gardasil researchers designed studies of women who were low-risk for HPV transmission and followed them for only two years or less. Despite reporting adverse events in 90% of vaccine recipients (approximately 40% were systemic reactions), they minimized the significance by reporting similar reaction rates in placebo groups that had inappropriately received high doses of aluminum rather than conventional saline.

Financial pressures against the pharmaceutical giant are now even greater. Besides facing up to a $10 billion in legal losses from Vioxx they now anticipate a nearly $6 billion tax charge as the result of multiple tax reporting violations.¹⁶ Is a company that already has spent millions of dollars on an advertising campaign for Gardasil capable of telling the truth when they are more financially desperate today than ever before? It has been estimated that HPV mandates could generate as much as $5 billion annually for Merck, who now has little liability in vaccine injuries that may ensue thanks to the CDC’s decision to distribute Gardasil through the Vaccine for Children Program. Any Gardasil-related legal claims will be addressed in the no-fault system of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims rather than state and federal courts. Thus, taxpayers and consumers will pay for children’s injuries, not Merck. Limited liability further undermines Merck’s motivation to be forthright about vaccine problems.

Government healthcare agencies serve industry. FDA approval should not garner confidence in Gardasil. FDA biases and failures are well documented. In a November 18th, 2004 testimony before Congress, FDA drug safety officer Dr. David Graham, commenting on Merck’s Vioxx debacle and the FDA’s role in concealment of cardiovascular complications and failure to withdraw the drug earlier, stated, “I would argue that the FDA, as currently configured, is incapable of protecting America against another Vioxx. We are virtually defenseless.”¹⁷ We can only be grateful that Vioxx was not a mandated drug.

Four years prior this problem was foreshadowed in a Congressional investigation reviewing conflicts of interest among healthcare agencies that reported too close of ties between FDA and CDC advisory committee members and the drug industry.¹⁸ This included the placement of patent holders on advisory committees who were allowed to vote in approval for their own vaccine. Four of six members of a 1999 FDA advisory who approved Vioxx were granted waivers from the conflict-of-interest rule.

Harsh criticisms of the FDA continue to this day.¹⁹ On February 13, 2007 the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations opened hearings lambasting the FDA regarding the safety of drugs. Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) opened, “It is clear … that the FDA is badly broken. I expect that before we finish this investigation, which is just getting underway, we will discover whether the problems we have found are due to the work of scoundrels, irrational penny-pinching, or because the doors to the FDA “hen house” have been thrown open to foxes.” Testimony by Charles Grassley (R-IA) painted a picture of a rogue agency with near complete disregard for the law, an agency intentionally exposing Americans to known peril while actively covering the trail and working in partnership with Big Pharma.

Many legislators and physicians may find it impossible to believe that America’s healthcare governance is broken, but consider the evidence. According to a recent shocking report by the international group Save The Children, the United States has one of the highest rates of newborn mortality of all the “industrialized” nations in the world.²⁰ Of the 33 developed nations reviewed, the U.S. ranked 32nd in infant mortality. The CIA Factbooks has recently failed to rank the United States in the top 40 nations for either infant mortality or life expectancy.²¹ Children in the United States suffer from increasing rates of autism, asthma, obesity and other chronic childhood illnesses yet are among the world’s most vaccinated populations.

Who is promoting the HPV mandate – medicine or Merck? The efforts to pass legislation mandating this vaccine appear to more about marketing and influence than about science. After Texan Governor Perry issued an executive order on February 2nd, 2006, mandating the HPV vaccine, the Associated Press reported he had taken campaign contributions from Merck and his former chief of staff was a Merck lobbyist.²² Merck provides an undisclosed amount of money to Women in Government (WiG), an advocacy group comprised of female state lawmakers that include SB 10 cosponsor Senator Debbie Halvorson (D) who also received money from Merck last year for her re-election campaign.²³ WiG and its member legislators have launched an aggressive campaign to mandate the HPV vaccine throughout the U.S. Even the chairman of the CDC’s Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices Dr. Jon Abramson recently stated; “It shouldn’t be mandated”, echoing similar positions taken by the AAP and the AAFP.²⁴ How is it exactly that Illinois should bypass recommendations from these organizations and agencies?

Conclusion. Mandating a vaccine against sexually transmitted diseases in 11 year-old children is unwise. This age group is likely being targeted to take advantage of the leverage of the threat to block entry into 6th grade and maximizing drug sales, not because of valid science. Merck’s own trials only enrolled only a few hundred 11-12 year olds so we know the least about vaccinating children this age than any other age group. Cervical cancer is not a common cancer in women, certainly not in 11 year-old girls. The real science indicates the greatest risk groups for HPV transmission are sexually active adults, not children. Since regulatory agencies urge vaccination before HPV infection is established and nearly 97% of adult women do not possess the strains in Gardasil, the overwhelming majority of women are candidates for vaccination. Therefore, I certainly hope that legislators, healthcare officials and physicians will also be willing to roll up their own sleeves in order to “prevent” cervical cancer. Somehow, I think very few would have the courage to take their own advice in lieu of the many unanswered questions about a drug marketed by a company who’s moral compass is obviously broken. Again, the evidence suggests that mandating the HPV vaccine is more about marketing strategy than rationale science. The HPV vaccine mandate may be a good idea someday, but please not today.

[1]Hospital Stays for Cervical Cancer. M Milenkovic, et al. 2004 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Statistical Brief #22, Jan 2007. Available at http://www.hcupus.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb22.pdf

[2] Excess Cervical Cancer Mortality: A Marker for Low Access to Health Care in Poor Communities. Freeman HP, Wingrove BK. Rockville, MD: National Cancer Institute, Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, May 2005. NIHPub. No. 05–5282. Available online http://crchd.cancer.gov/attachments/excess-cervcanmort.pdf

[3] Cervical cancer incidence in a prevaccine era in the United States, 1998-2002. Saraiya M et al. Obstet Gynecol. 2007 Feb;109(2 Pt 1):360-70.

[4] Cervical cancer mortality in Illinois, 1986 to 1998. JV Campbell and T Shen. EPI Updates, Illinois Department of Public Health, Spring 2000. Available online at: www.idph.state.il.us/cancer/pdf/Eupcerinc.pdf

[5]Chronic Diseases: The Leading Causes of Death Illinois Profiling the Leading Causes of Death in the United States. Heart Disease, Stroke and Cancer. CDC, Atlanta, GA. at: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/factsheets/ChronicDisease/illinois.htm

[6] Management of abnormal cervical cytology and histology. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 66. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist. Obstet Gynecol 2005; 106: 645-64.

[7] Prevalence of HPV infection among females in the United States. Dunne et al. JAMA. Feb 27, 2007; 297(8): 813-819.

[8] Grindley Productions. 2007. NVIC HPV Vaccine Video. Accessed Feb 20, 2007 http://nvic.org/Diseases/HPV/HPVHOME.htm

[9] VAERS ID # 267418. Available online at: http://www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/showrecord.php?rec=267418

[10] Merck says Gardasil is safe for patients to use. By John Wilen. Mar 2, 2007. PhilyBurbs.com

[11]Human papilloma virus vaccine safety Analysis of Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System Reports: Part II National Vaccine Information Center. February 18, 2007 Available at www.nvic.org/Diseases/HPV/HPVREPT2.htm

[12] HPV vaccine won’t get new warnings, officials say. By M Stobbe Associated Press. Feb. 21, 2007. Online at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/4570213.html

[13] §201.323 Aluminum in large and small volume parenterals used in total parenteral nutrition. Federal Register/Rules and Regulations. Vol 68 (106) Tuesday June 3, 2003. Page 32981

[14] Aluminum adjuvant linked to Gulf War Illness induces motor neuron death in mice. MS Petrik, et cl. Neuromolecular Medicine 2007; 9(1):83-100.

[15] LA Koutsky et al NEJM 2002. SL Block et al Pediatrics, 2006. GP Poland et al, Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2005. LLVilla et al, Lancet-Oncology 2005. C Mao et al. Obstetrics & Gynecology 2006. Abstracts available online at www.pubmed.com

[16] Merck tax disputes could cost $5.58 billion Potential liabilities disclosed amid lawsuits over painkiller Vioxx. The Associated Press. Nov 8, 2006. Available at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15621917/

[17] Statement of David Graham, M.D., Associate Director, Office of Drug Safety, U.S. Food and Drug Administration before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, November 18, 2004. Available at http://www.senate.gov/~finance/hearings/testimony/2004test/111804dgtest.pdf

[18] Conflicts of Interest in Vaccine Policy Making Majority Staff Report Committee on Government Reform U.S. House of Representatives August 21, 2000. Available at: www.vacineinfo.net/issues/conflictsofinterest/conflictsofinteresthearings/shtml

[19] Drug safety-the eleventh hour is now! By Byron J. Richards, CCN February 21, 2007. NewsWithViews.com

[20] State of the World’s Mothers 2006: Saving the Lives of Mothers and Newborns. Available online at www.savethechildren.com

[21] CIA Factbook. Available online at: www.cia.gov/publications/factbook

[22] Texas Governor orders anti-cancer vaccine. Liz Austin Peterson, Associated Press Writer. Feb 2, 2007.

[23] Debate over HPV shot gets personal. Opponent of bill calls out sponsor to reveal details of private life. By Dana Heupel, State Capitol Bureau. Monday, February 19, 2007. Springfield Journal Register. Available at: http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/108208.asp

[24] CDC opposes law for vaccine. By Gregory Lopes, Washington Times. February 27, 2007.