POTS

Gardasil vaccine is safe – supported by overwhelming scientific evidence

I have written nearly 200 articles on the HPV vaccine, and the simple conclusions based on the published evidence is that the Gardasil vaccine is safe and extremely effective. This is essentially settled science.

Of course, the anti-vaccine zealots continue to push the narrative that somehow the HPV vaccine causes all kinds of harms, almost all of these claims without merit. In other words, they lack any verifiable and reliable evidence.

On the other hand, researchers continue to examine whether the Gardasil vaccine is safe, and the simple interpretation of that evidence is that the HPV vaccine is incredibly safe, and there is no evidence of major adverse events linked to the vaccine.

Because there is such a large volume of published evidence supporting the fact that the Gardasil vaccine is safe, I thought I would look at the four best, highest-quality published articles that support this claim. Maybe you all can use it when some anti-vaxxer tries to tell you that the HPV vaccine makes some specious claims about its safety.Read More »Gardasil vaccine is safe – supported by overwhelming scientific evidence

HPV vaccine adverse events – study of 11 years of use in Australia

The anti-vaccine crowd loves to push claims about awful HPV vaccine adverse events, scientific evidence has never supported it. Fortunately, numerous large studies have shown over and over and over that HPV vaccine adverse events are rare and not serious.

Now, we have a robust new study from Australia, one of the first countries to provide the vaccine free to its citizens, that has followed HPV vaccine adverse events for over 11 years. And just to cut to the chase, they didn’t find anything serious, but I’ll go into detail below.Read More »HPV vaccine adverse events – study of 11 years of use in Australia

HPV vaccine adverse effects and the European Medicines Agency

Despite the robust body of evidence supporting HPV vaccine safety and effectiveness, the European Medicines Agency (the European Union’s version of the US FDA) began a review of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines “to further clarify aspects of their safety profile,” although the agency also points out that this review did not “question that the benefits of HPV vaccines outweigh their risks.” In other words, the EMA examined the HPV vaccine adverse effects, real or imagined.

After a few months of investigation, the EMA came to a conclusion about HPV vaccine adverse effects – there were no major ones. Let’s take a look at this story.
Read More »HPV vaccine adverse effects and the European Medicines Agency

HPV vaccine clinical trials being attacked by anti-vaccine religion again

I have said this before, and I am becoming slowly convinced of my opinion on the matter – the anti-vaccine religion has a particular hatred for the HPV vaccine, usually Gardasil, that far exceeds its abhorrence of most other vaccines. Recently, Slate, generally a reliable source for vaccine articles, published an anti-vaccine screed against Gardasil that seems to be based on a claim of faulty HPV vaccine clinical trials.

As a result of some expected negative comments made about the article, Slate took the unusual step of trying to explain itself. I am not sure that they have gotten very far, even if the author of the explanation claims that they would get the Gardasil anti-cancer again. But they really have concerns about the HPV vaccine clinical trials.

Well, I do not have those issues regarding the HPV vaccine clinical trials. First, the author of the original article is simply an amateur about science, clinical trials, and statistics. The author was trying to create doubt about the Gardasil vaccine based on misunderstanding, at best.

Second, the author fails to grasp that vaccines are constantly monitored by post-marketing studies that often include huge numbers of patients, which can find very rare instances of adverse effects. In these studies, nothing was found that tied Gardasil to anything serious, short of fainting by patients after getting the shot, a common occurrence with patients.

Third, the author relies on anecdotal evidence, which has zero value in scientific understanding. This is a serious issue that should have cause Slate to back off from the article.

But Slate didn’t. And here we are. We’re going to critically examine what they wrote, but mostly I’m going to focus on the numerous large patient studies that completely refute their claims. Slate’s anecdotes and misunderstanding of clinical trials versus scientific data – guess which wins?Read More »HPV vaccine clinical trials being attacked by anti-vaccine religion again

Gardasil vaccine safety – under attack again by a false authority

Here we go again – another lightweight “science paper” attacking Gardasil vaccine safety. Now, I have to spend time debunking it because we all know that this new article will be used as “proof” that Gardasil is dangerous.

As I have written dozens of times, there are precious few ways for us to effectively prevent cancer. Exercise regularly. Eat a balanced diet. Stay out of the sun. Quit smoking. Don’t drink alcohol. And get vaccinated against hepatitis B and the human papillomavirus (HPV). That’s it. No kale blueberry almond milk shake is going to suddenly make your risk of cancer drop to zero. Avoiding gluten, cleansing your colon, or smoking a joint will have no effect on your risk of cancer.

But the HPV cancer preventing vaccine, known as Gardasil, is a well-researched, scientifically-based medication to prevent a long list of cancers. So we’re going to take a critical look at this new article.Read More »Gardasil vaccine safety – under attack again by a false authority

HPV vaccine anecdotes – not the basis of real science

by Michael Simpson
2020-09-27
2 Comments
Andrew Wakefield, Cancer, Christopher Shaw, HPV vaccine, Vaccines

Anecdotes are a fundamental part of the anti-vaccine propaganda machine. We have a tendency to overstate the importance of anecdotes, because they usually have an emotional appeal to them. Anecdotes are not data, not even close. At best, they are observations, but they give no indication of temporal correlation, let alone causality.

HPV vaccine anecdotes have become part of the discourse about Gardasil and other HPV vaccines. It has become full-time job just to debunk the myths that arise from a handful of anecdotes.

I have written on a number of articles about the HPV cancer-prevention vaccines, Gardasil, Cervarix and Silgard. These vaccines prevent infection by up to 9 different types of genital and oral human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the USA.

The virus is generally transmitted from personal contact during vaginal, anal or oral sex. It is very easy to transmit, and according to the CDC, roughly 79 million Americans are infected with HPV–approximately 14 million Americans contract HPV every year.

HPV is believed to cause nearly 5% of all new cancers across the world, making it almost as dangerous with regards to cancer as tobacco. Most individuals don’t even know they have the infection until the onset of cancer. And about 27,000 HPV-related cancers are diagnosed in the USA every year.

There is a robust body of evidence supporting the fact that HPV vaccines are highly effective in preventing HPV infection. There are also several large studies (also, here and here) that strongly support the high degree of safety of the HPV vaccine.

Recently, the European Medicines Agency (EMA, European Union’s version of the US FDA) had started a review of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines “to further clarify aspects of their safety profile,” although the agency also points out that this review “does not question that the benefits of HPV vaccines outweigh their risks.”

The outcome? The EMA found that the HPV vaccine was safe.

Updated – Japan and HPV vaccine – debunking myths

by Michael Simpson
2020-09-27
18 Comments
Andrew Wakefield, Cancer, HPV vaccine, Infectious disease, Vaccines

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in June 2013. It has been revised and updated to include recent developments with the HPV cancer preventing vaccine and Japan’s Health Ministry.

The comments have been closed for this article. Please comment at the revised article.

I enjoy refuting myths about cancer prevention and cures, for only one reason–because there are real cancer cures and preventions that people overlook. Frankly speaking, there really is only a handful of ways to prevent cancer backed by real scientific evidence–and one of the most important ones is receiving the HPV vaccine.

Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the USA. There are more than 40 HPV sub-types that can infect the genital areas of males and females. Additionally, some HPV types can also infect the mouth and throat. HPV is generally transmitted from personal contact during vaginal, anal or oral sex.

HPV is linked to cancers in men and women, and because there are so many subtypes, research has established which HPV types are related to which cancers. Because HPV is sexually transmitted, most of the infections occur near the mouth, throat, anus and genital areas–and most HPV related cancers begin there.

HPV is believed to cause nearly 5% of all new cancers across the world, making it almost as dangerous with regards to cancer as tobacco. According to the CDC, roughly 79 million Americans are infected with HPV–approximately 14 million Americans contract HPV every year. Most individuals don’t even know they have the infection until the onset of cancer. About 27,000 HPV-related cancers are diagnosed in the USA every year.