“This drug is safe; it is effective,” says D.C. Councilman David Catania about Merck Inc.’s Gardasil vaccine, which the company and others claim prevents transmission of the human papilomavirus, a cause of cervical cancer.
Catania and Ward 3’s Mary Cheh persuaded the full council in 2007 to mandate Gardasil vaccinations of all girls entering the sixth grade in D.C. Public Schools. He cites approval by the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration as proof of the drug’s safety and efficacy.
“We have been too casual with health care in this city,” he adds.
Faye Williams and the Committee of Parents and Citizens to Stop Medical Experimentation agree. That’s why for the past two years they have fought aggressively against the vaccination program. They were successful in changing the law to allow parents to opt out. But that’s not enough.
“We’re asking for emergency legislation that repeals the law,” Williams says. “My heart goes out to the families of the eight women who died in the District of ovarian cancer. But we are seeing too many problems [associated with Gardasil] all over the country.”
Today the fight goes live on WPFW-FM. The radio station is sponsoring a three-hour town hall debate at its studio on Champlain Street Northwest, with three panels of medical professionals, politicians and citizens. Catania says he has another commitment; he can’t participate.
Williams says there have been thousands of cases of “adverse effects” experienced by girls and women who have been vaccinated. Some of those have been made public by Judicial Watch, which obtained reports filed with the CDC through the Freedom of Information Act.
Catania and other Gardasil proponents concede there have been more than 8,000 reports of adverse effects. But they say the CDC has categorized only 6.8 percent — 567 from 2007 through 2008 — as serious. That’s less than the 7.2 percent — 20 cases — for the tetanus shot. (We don’t know how many total vaccinations of either vaccine were given.)
But don’t feed that to Amanda’s parents. In July 2008, CBS News (which did not give Amanda’s last name) aired a report about the eldest daughter of two medical doctors who, after the first Gardasil shot, developed “autoimmune myofascitis” with pain so severe she had to be put on morphine.
“I have to ask myself why I let my [daughter] get an unproven vaccine against a few strains of a nonlethal virus that can be dealt with in many more effective ways,” her father told CBS. “It was the regrettable acceptance of the vaccine party line that [mis]led me.”
That story gives most parents pause. But what may also raise concerns is Catania’s answer to my question about why the council decided to impose a mandatory vaccination regimen.
“Those on Medicaid can get the vaccine,” he says. “[But private] insurance companies will not pay for it unless it’s mandatory.”
Are local District politicians trolling for dollars for a giant pharmaceutical company? I wonder.
