Family claims cervical-cancer vaccine caused paralysis [View All]

Source: Nevada Appeal News Service

Family claims cervical-cancer vaccine caused paralysis

Health Department disputes that determination

by Jo Rafferty
Nevada Appeal News Service
May 17, 2007

Fourteen-year-old Jessica Vega went into the emergency room at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno on Thursday night when she couldn't move her legs and her arms felt weak. "Her legs are paralyzed, her arms are affected. She is very weak in her arms," said Tondra Vees a family friend. "She has to use a walker. Even with that, she can't get to the bathroom. She can't stand up at all."

Vees said the girl has been determined by her doctor to have Guillain-Barre syndrome, an acute, autoimmune condition that can lead to paralysis.

The girl, whose mother Rhonda Vega is a full-time teacher's aide at Carson Valley Middle School, received her first booster shot of the cervical cancer prevention vaccine Gardasil on May 2. "According to her neurologist, that's what caused this," said Vees,

Nevada State Health Officer Dr. Bradford Lee said the Web sites the Nevada State Health Department checks don't list the girl's symptoms as a side-effect. "We are aware of a report of an alleged side-effect," said Lee. "Based on the CDC's site and the manufacturer's site, this is not a side-effect of the vaccine."

Read more: http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20070517/NEWS/105170090

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Considering GARDASIL's limited clinical effective (see: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=909351&mesg_id=909351 ), just a few cases like this per every 10,000 girls vaccinated could make GARDASIL's risks greater than its benefits.

If the CDC won't even report instances like this as a potential side effects, though, we will have to rely on the anecdotal evidence that makes the newspapers.