Outrage grows over Bachmann’s comments; groups say HPV vaccine is safe

[...] Outrage grows over Bachmann's comments; groups say HPV vaccine is safeMinnesota IndependentMichele Bachmann was the target of harsh criticism Tuesday after she asserted that the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine could cause mental retardation. For once, people from both sides of the political spectrum, …In Republican Race, a Heated Battle Over the HPV VaccineNew York TimesNo evidence HPV vaccines are dangerUSA TodayBachmann's wrongheaded attack on HPV vaccinationsWashington Postmsnbc.com -Daily Mail -Huffington Postall 5,090 news articles » [...]

I don’t agree with MB on anything but this issue. My reasons have everything to do with my distrust of the FDA and their connections to the Big Pharm industry. No one seems to take the time to research this vaccination. Take the time to look into the way this vaccine was tested and ask yourself: If boys are the carriers of HPV why did they target girls for this? Why not take care of the boys?

Below are a few stats that made me make the choice NOT to let my girls be guinea pigs:
(And yes, I know that compared to the amount of vaccines the death rate was low but really, do YOU want to sacrifice your daughter up for something that can be treated with regular exams and healthy safe-sex practices?)

The following adverse reactions and deaths have been reported to the Vaccines Advent Reporting System (VAERS) as of 9/2/2010:

Adverse Reactions

Gardasil – 18,461

Cervarix – 426

HPV Vaccines – 137

TOTAL – 19,024

Deaths

Gardasil 77

Cervarix 4

TOTAL – 81

Bachmann’s reckless and hysterical comments are bad for America. Getting it wrong again and again and again harm our health, safety and economy. She is consistently blinded by her extremist’s views that will put American’s at risk.

[...] wrongheaded attack on HPV vaccinationsWashington Postmsnbc.com -Daily Mail -Minnesota Independentall 5,272 news [...]

There ARE doctors who do not agree with immunizations and do say that there are negative effects from them which include – ADD, ADHD, Autism, behavioral issues, anger issues, loss of appetite, and retardation. I think that it is sad that the FDA can simply tell you that you need something and we all just get in line, no questions asked. And look what happens when someone like Michelle Bauchmann dares to speak out…Very sad. Our country needs to wake up and think for themselves! Quit letting the media determine what you think and what choices you make.

Thousands of young girls life’s have been destroyed by this dangerous concoction. Mental retardation may be the wrong term but permanent brain damage is not much different. Go here and read the horror stories;

http://truthaboutgardasil.org/injuries/

The reactions and deaths reported to VAERS mentioned above are just that – reports, not confirmed incidents. The VAERS site is just the first step in collecting data that are then looked at in more detail. No conclusions may be drawn from VAERS.

So for a 0.00005 percent chance of an adverse reaction you would put your child at risk of getting cervical cancer? I assume you are also not letting your children get in a car, play sports, eat solid food or goto the bathroom for fear of accidents and food poisoning. All of these things are much more likely to result in serious injury or death than vaccines.
People need to learn how to do real risk assessment rather than letting irrational fears guide their lives.

There should not be outrage at her comment, rather there should be outrage and the number of deaths that have occurred so far from hpv vaccine, and the huge number of adverse events.
America should be sympathetic to that mother’s plight – her daughter was damaged from gardasil. Instead, Big Pharma pays for damage control in the mainstream media.

Yes, let’s return to the dark ages so we can get polio, small pox, chicken pox, measels, mumps, rubella, etc. The anti-vaccination crowd not only put their own kids at risk, but all kids. Maybe we can use leeches to just suck the cancer out.

So nice to see that there is a point on the political horizon where Bachmann and hippies converge.

I have no illusions about big Pharm and feel bad for any parent whose child is hurt. Most of their drugs are cures looking for a disease.
That said nothing will ever be 100% safe for everyone and the benefits of vaccines out-weigh the risks by such an enormous amount that anyone who doesn’t vaccinate themselves and their children against these diseases is a fool. The majority of us will never personally know someone whose child suffered an serious adverse reaction to a vaccine or even know someone who knows someone. It is very very rare.

[...] Bachmann’s attack on Gardasil has bought her the enmity of no less than Rush Limbaugh, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and everyone in [...]

Regular exams and safe-sex practices are considered backward and in the Dark Ages?

Feel free to let your child be an “unfortunate” statistic. I don’t have any children I can spare.

[...] Over the HPV VaccineNew York TimesNo evidence HPV vaccines are dangerUSA TodayWashington Post -Minnesota Independentall 6,213 news [...]

She totally overlooks the fact that the Pharmaceuticals are pushing drugs on our kids and in her usual…make it up fashion…lies.

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you eh Babs?

I find it fascinating that the Republicans (dominantly) has seen fit to utilize more and more extreme examples of fearmongering…. what ever happened to actually CHECKING or INVESTIGATING claims for elements of fact?…. despite the concept that due dilligence MIGHT make you miss a great PR soundbyte… there is so much more to be said for the air of personal credibility that can result from actual, factually correct information. Knowledge IS power and people like Ms Bachman know that and fear that their power base will erode if their constituents have actual facts.

I understand that some people have had personal experience with vaccine reactions, but to say that vaccines cause mental retardation or autism is ludicrous. The autism connection was completely debunked in January 2010 and the doctors that published the study were reprimanded and may lose their licenses to practice medicine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960277,00.html

The fact that even Rush Limbaugh said that Bachmann “jumped the shark” and went too far with blatently false information after rebuking Gov. Perry’s proposed vaccine program. This says to me (and MANY others) that she is far to extremist to ever lead ANY nation, not just the US. I don’t care how “passionate” she seems to be to her supporters. If she ever got to be president, she would say or do something that might likely have very real consequences to the citizens of our country. Who knows what some extremist might decide to do just because Michelle Bachmann opened her mouth once again and put her foot in it all the way up to her knee.

Bachmann has been making outrageous statements and telling easily refutable lies for years with no repercussions, particularly among her faith based followers, so she’s not going to change now and risk losing a major base of support.

Kate commented on the deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) that followed vacation with Gardasil. Kate appears to misunderstand the purpose and the methods of VAERS, and it is clear that she does not understand that there is no evidence that Gardasil caused those deaths.

CDC reports indicate that as of June 22, 2011 there have been 32 confirmed deaths following distribution of more than 35 million doses of Gardasil. There was no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine.

The passive Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data simply cannot be used to prove a causal association between the vaccine and the adverse event. The only association between the adverse event and vaccination is temporal, meaning that the adverse event occurred sometime after vaccination. The VAERS program specifically “seeks reports of any clinically significant medical event that occurs after vaccination, even if the reporter cannot be certain that the event was caused by the vaccine . . . You should report adverse events even if you are unsure whether a vaccine caused them . . . The fact that an adverse event occurred following immunization is not conclusive evidence that the event was caused by a vaccine.”

Kate, Pat, Anne S, just to name a few;
First of all as bepatienz stated the VAERS reports have never linked Gardasil or HPV vaccines to those deaths. The deaths could be caused by anything and it is still reported to VAERS. STOP being conspiracy theorist and assuming all government agencies are trying to hide something!!!!!!!!! DO ANY

DO ANY OF YOU IDIOTS OUT THERE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT VACCINES HAVE DONE FOR MANKIND. MEASLES, MUMPS, RUBELLA, DIPTHERIA, TETANUS, POLIO just to name a few are not diseases any of you have had to deal with, if you did you are the same idiots who would complain that the GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING!!!! You and your children are protected from these horrible diseases because of vaccines. WAKE UP AMERICA!!! Seriously do you honestly think preventing Cancer is a bad thing!!! PLEASE SHOW OF HANDS!!! How many morons think we shouldn’t prevent Cancer. I’m waiting!!!!!! And another thing most of the 18,0000 adverse events are things like injection site swelling and pain. Boo Hoo so the shot hurts, well burying your mother or sister or daughter hurts alot worse. By the way Kate you still need to get PAP smears even after you get the vaccine, and your assessment is all wrong about safe sex practices. Do me a favor and look up how many deaths occur each year from Cervical, Vaginal, Vulvar and Anal Cancers. Then do those families a favor and go tell them Mommy’s dead and I’m happy she didn’t get the vaccine. You people are a joke, because you google something you automatically assume the info you find is correct, well here’s a NEWSFLASH for you, most of the time it’s not. The Truth About Gardasil is that it saves lives, someone should start a .org about that, oh my bad good outcomes are never reported because hey we just assume that we should be healthy and not have diseases. Michelle Bachmann shame on you for your uninformed comments. I was a supporter but no way now.

@Tom,
Tell us how you really feel Tom. You have to stop sugar coating your words and be a little more straight forward.

I saw some numbers from Kate and further on someone else explained what that site is for. So I apreciate the information I gained from reading this thread.

Everybody knows something everyone else does not know. I apreciate you all sharing so I know more. Yes even you Tom. You have A lot of anger in there.

Go to Youtube right now. Type in Gardisal. See first-hand what this vaccine is doing to young women and their families. Parental discretion advised!

According the the AMA site there is not real ‘safe sex’ except to abstain entirely to avoid HPV, since it can survive on the surface of the skin out of reach of a condom.

We get vaccinations—ones that have long term trials and a proven safety record.

There’s plenty of evidence that companies like Merck have screwed up in the past.
Can I interest anyone in a little “harmless” Vioxx? (or was that all a made-up event?)

I got the HPV vaccine and I’m fine. No third arm or brain damage. So I guess since we’re elevating personal anecdotes to the level of peer-reviewed scientific studies, my experience invalidates the “retarded” girl’s.

Seriously people. If you’re too dumb to understand the difference between debunked causal claims and robust scientific evidence, you’re too dumb to make decisions about vaccinations for your children. The government SHOULD mandate them to prevent you from killing your offspring by exposing them to measles, mumps, rubella, etc. which are all FAR more likely to kill them than the vaccine preventing them, in addition to all of the infants and people with compromised immune systems your little angel will spread the diseases to.

It’s pretty disgusting that people will play Russian roulette with their children’s lives over a disproven rumor. Frankly these idiots deserve it when their kids die unnecessarily from such diseases. I hope the grief stays with them forever. And I hope they tell their stories to give the conspiracy theorists something to really be concerned about – the breakdown of herd immunity and the personal anguish that comes from knowing you’re responsible for your child’s death.

Why resort to name calling to get your point across?
Have a child and then report back one day on how you did everything perfect.
You’re a sad individual if you relish heaping grief on people.

Reports of Health Concerns Following HPV Vaccination

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vaccines/hpv/gardasil.html

“As of June 22, 2011, approximately 35 million doses of Gardasil® were distributed in the U.S…”

With that many people vaccinated, there will be people who get sick after getting vaccinated. In that size a population, there will be people getting sick after going to church…or watching baseball on TV…doing homework. Are the adverse reactions unusual for that size a population? What is the mortality rate for people in that age group? How many people in that age group, out of a population of 35 million, would likely have died had the vaccine not been available?

I was hospitalized from encephalitis when I was in that age group…from the now preventable mumps…which makes me a bit of a vaccination activist, I guess.

Kate, if you can’t handle being referred to as an idiot for doing something that is idiotic, maybe you need to get off the internet.

Medical questions should be as Chongzhongzhi is heavy, as soon as possible to solve it.
Not everyone of us without a good day.

Tom and Shannon,
Your letters depict you as abusive personalities with child like tendencies. Name calling is what children do because they are not mature enough to handle their emotions.
Your letters having a point to make is well and fine but your abusive personality is obvious. I hope you do not have children to abuse in the same manner.

I find it ironic that you have them vaccinated yet abuse them verbally.

Wow. Here we are sixty years after the birth of the modern anti-vacc movement, and the same old thoroughly discredited arguments still get trotted out. Please read a biography of Jonas Saulk, and compare the hysterical invective of that era with the modern anti-vacc rhetoric.
Your child’s odds of developing HPV-related cervical cancer are vastly, ridiculously greater than the odds of them having a significant reaction to the vaccine. By several orders of magnitude. I say significant because Kate supplies some unsettling numbers on reactions, but fails to provide any context. The previous comments on VAERS are quite accurate; the system requires reporting of any health issue occurring after administration, whether there’s an actual causal link or not. Per the AMA, the most common causally related side effects are local site reactions (Swelling at the injection site.) at a rate of 7.5 cases per 100,000 doses, headaches at 4.1/100,000 and hypersensitivity reactions (Requiring an epinephrine shot, like someone with a bee allergy getting stung.) at 3.1/100,000. Also per the AMA, the percentage of vacc administrations that result in serious reactions is 0.003%, which is essentially statistically identical to other vaccines, and safer than many things that we do without a second thought.
Look, significant anecdotal evidence exists that seatbelts are dangerous. For example, you could bang up your arm while crashing into a lake, be unable to free yourself, and drown. But we weigh the probability of that happening versus the probability of being thrown through the windshield after a collision and we buckle up. The same principle applies here.

Calling another adult an idiot makes me a child abuser? Seriously?

Let’s pretend for a moment that these unfounded claims are true. Let’s say that a certain vaccine is found to have caused 1,000 serious adverse reactions in a given year. 750 kids have autism, and 250 are dead.

The resulting panic among parents leads many to not vaccinate their children. The disease that the vaccine prevented suddenly becomes far more common. 500,000 kids become ill, and 50,000 die. Deaths that could have been prevented by vaccination.

Advocating against vaccination in this case means that people would rather have 50,000 children die instead of 250. THAT IS IDIOTIC. If you’re bothered by my scorn, maybe you should consider why I’m so outraged about this. 50,000 dead children because some misguided and ignorant parents think risking the health of the public at large is a better idea than taking a much, much smaller risk in vaccinating their children.

And the worst part? There is not a single substantiated instance of serious adverse reaction for this vaccine, or many others required for children. So these people want to risk the health of the public over a rumor. And I’m the bad guy for calling them idiots.

Shannon’s arguments sound the most reasoned to me.

Her language may be a little brutal, but then we live in a climate where flat earth morons like Bachmann are treated seriously.

I can sympathize with the sentiment.