$1.2 Mil to Push Gardasil Among Poor Minority Girls

While the Obama administration tries to keep details involving the dangers of a government-backed cervical cancer vaccine (Gardasil) secret, it continues spending large sums of taxpayer dollars promoting the controversial shot for girls and young women.

This is beyond outrageous because Judicial Watch has exposed the scandal behind Gardasil, manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Merck and promoted as a miracle shot that can prevent certain strains of cervical cancer caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The reality is that droves of government records uncovered by Judicial Watch show that Gardasil has been linked to thousands of adverse reactions and debilitating side effects that the government wants to keep secret.  

They include seizures, blindness, paralysis, speech problems, pancreatitis, short-term memory loss and dozens of deaths. Incredibly, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fast-tracked Gardasil’s approval and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues recommending it for girls starting at age 9. JW launched its probe in 2007 and had to sue for the records in the face of Obama administration stonewalling. In 2008 JW published a special report detailing Gardasil’s government approval process, side effects, safety concerns and marketing practices.

Earlier this year JW uncovered documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealing that its National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) has awarded nearly $6 million to dozens of victims in claims made against the very HPV vaccine it is pushing on children. To date 200 claims have been filed with VICP, with barely half adjudicated, according to the documents obtained by JW.

Years after JW first exposed frightening information about Gardasil, two reputable Canadian medical researchers published a study concluding that the unknown dangers of a life-threatening adverse reaction to the vaccine far outweigh the known risks of contracting HPV. The same researchers responded to a Merck-sponsored study last year that, not surprisingly, found the vaccine is perfectly safe. The Canadian researchers warned that Gardasil may trigger fatal autoimmune or neurological events in some cases.  

Nevertheless, the vaccine has been shoved down the throats of unsuspecting victims by government at every level. Some 20 states have passed laws requiring funding for Gardasil or education programs promoting it.  Among states that have enacted Gardasil-related measures are California, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Virginia, Maine and Utah.  In all 50 states, tax dollars help pay for the costly shots ($360) because the CDC makes them available through the federal Vaccines for Children program.

Lately the Obama administration is targeting low-income and minority girls, doling out north of $1.2 million to “increase HPV vaccine uptake in a low income ethnic minority population.” The money has gone to a public university in southern California that will conduct a “culturally sensitive” intervention— in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Armenian and Korean—to increase HPV vaccine receipt among “underserved, high risk girls in Los Angeles.”

It’s safe to bet that the “culturally sensitive,” taxpayer-funded Gardasil campaign won’t include the potentially lethal side effects documented in the government’s own Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The data is kept by the FDA and CDC as a vaccine safety surveillance program that can be easily accessed by the public yet Judicial Watch had to sue for information related to Gardasil.