EU to begin investigating HPV vaccines linked to permanent brain damage in children
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Union agency
responsible for protecting the public by supervising medicine, announced
last Monday that it would conduct an investigation regarding the safety
of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines.
HPV vaccines are purportedly intended to prevent genital warts and
cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is one of the most common types of
cancer in women worldwide. Approximately 70 million people have used HPV
vaccine since they were first introduced in 2006, although it is
difficult to asses how many vaccines are actually administered
worldwide, since most countries do not record administered doses.
Doctors and pharmaceutical companies have dismissed claims that HPV
vaccines are tied to a host of adverse side effects. EMA’s decision to
conduct an investigation is a small victory in the sense that it at
least acknowledges that the HPV vaccine may be linked to adverse
reactions.
