Gardasil Researcher Speaks Out
Amid questions about the safety
of the HPV vaccine Gardasil one of the lead researchers for the Merck
drug is speaking out about its risks, benefits and aggressive marketing.
Dr. Diane Harper says young girls and their parents should receive more
complete warnings before receiving the vaccine to prevent cervical
cancer. Dr. Harper helped design and carry out the Phase II and Phase
III safety and effectiveness studies to get Gardasil approved, and
authored many of the published, scholarly papers about it. She has been
a paid speaker and consultant to Merck. It's highly unusual for a
researcher to publicly criticize a medicine or vaccine she helped get
approved.
Dr. Harper joins a
number of consumer watchdogs, vaccine safety advocates, and parents who
question the vaccine's risk-versus-benefit profile. She says data
available for Gardasil shows that it lasts five years; there is no data
showing that it remains effective beyond five years.
number of consumer watchdogs, vaccine safety advocates, and parents who
question the vaccine's risk-versus-benefit profile. She says data
available for Gardasil shows that it lasts five years; there is no data
showing that it remains effective beyond five years.
