Philadelphia Weekly

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Regarding Tara Murtha’s recent cover story about Gardasil, the HPV vaccine. 


Thank you so much for such a good article. So many parents have ill young ladies and have not been able to connect the dots. Articles such as yours that are so informative helps to make the connection. It’s been hard on parents to get someone to listen. There is a very real problem out there and I can only imagine their frustration. Parents like myself who have no way of proving that this vaccine may have killed our daughters. 


My entire family went through genetic testing just to rule out that possibility. We want answers to my daughter’s death. How does a perfectly healthy young woman die in a very short time? I’d just spoke with her hours before she passed away. So our lives are like living a death sentence. The only common thread to all the young ladies is the Gardasil vaccine. 


Thank you so much for taking the time to do so much research into this and then putting out to the public. You did a great job. 


KAREN MAYNOR
Belen, New Mexico

There have been few cases of fainting and other symptoms after administration of Gardasil. From a public health standpoint, preventing cervical cancer through vaccination is really important. Having treated many young women with cervical cancer, most of whom died after radical surgery and/or radiation therapy, I think anything that can prevent this is a good thing. 


No drug or vaccine is ever 100 percent safe, and it’s a great shame when any patient has side effects. I’m not clear, however, that this has to do with the vaccine. I say this as someone who has zero vested interest in Merck, does not trust pharmaceutical companies, and have been highly critical of many pharmaceutical company practices. It’s important to report on fact, though, not speculation. I wish this article could have included more unbiased medical opinion—surely there are physicians with expertise in vaccines who have no ties to Merck who could have weighed in objectively and fairly. 


Having seen too much suffering and death in women with cervical cancer, as well as having treated many young women with cervical dysplasia (the treatment of which can cause issues with childbearing), I’d hate for an effective vaccine to be shelved. I also wonder how much of the anti-Gardasil sentiment is fueled by social concerns re: encouraging promiscuity. There is no basis in fact for such concerns, but the far right has certainly attacked anything that they feel could promote sexual intercourse, even if it comes at the expense of women’s health. 


DAVID TOUB M.D., M.B.A
via philadelphiaweekly.com

Under the ruse of attempting to eradicate cervical cancer, Merck is actually engaged in the first large-scale, real-world deployment and testing of genetically modified DNA, genetically engineered proteins and genetics produced by the combining of genetic material from more than one origin or species in a vaccine.


Recombinant DNA, genetically engineered proteins, interspecies gene mixing, questionable new vaccine technology, lack of long-term safety and efficacy data, questionable pre-qualifications procedures and now, an extremely high prevalence of reported adverse side effects up to and including miscarriage and death.


This vaccine represents more than just bottom-line profit for Merck. This is the first genetically modified drug unleashed across a broad swath of unsuspecting, formerly healthy Americans. Unfortunately, the target they chose for this grand genetic experiment is the entire female population of mothers to be for all future generations. Can we really afford to allow this fraud and deception to continue? 


TERESA ALLEN
via philadelphiaweekly.com

Thank you for your report on Gardasil. I have tried for many months to have a letter posted in our large newspaper in Jacksonville, warning families of the side effects of Gardasil. The letters have all been rejected. In our family we are now “ONE LESS.”


Jessie was a beautiful 17-year-old young lady about to graduate and go with her best friend to college. She was very active in sports, on the honor roll in school and the life of the party. Two days after her third shot her mother came home from work and found Jessie dead. She had many of the symptoms the other girls had but her doctor said it was stress. The night before her death she told her mom the headache was back. The autopsy found no cause. What had caused Jessie to die?


Then the research began. Gardasil was typed on the computer and it was unbelievable what came up. If we had only known! Why did we not know? We have found many who are helping us and other families who are and have gone through what we are going through. We are not alone in our quest to tell anyone who will listen. Gardasil is a killer of our young women and girls. Most mothers don’t know there are other side effects other than what’s written in the brochures and on the TV commercials. So many more will die and all because we are trying to prevent the HPV virus and cervical cancer but finding out that the so-called cure is killing them also. 


DENISE MELTON
via philadelphiaweekly.com

Tara Murtha has done a great disservice with her brazenly irresponsible cover story. How ironic that Murtha herself paraphrases Dr. Paul Offit’s comment on how the “media … sensationalizes individual stories full of erroneous and unfounded claims, which dangerously rigs the public to mistrust perfectly safe vaccines.” Murtha’s narrative of this “one teen’s” story, in language befitting a tabloid expose (“the second shot was like pulling the trigger of a gun”), does just that.


If a million girls get a vaccine and a handful develops a headache, the statistical reality is that the two events are likely unrelated. Just because this article made me and several people I know feel nauseated doesn’t mean that the article itself causes an upset stomach. Maybe it’s because of the Chinese food I ate last night. Vaccines are perfect scapegoats, because everyone gets them. In actual experiments (with actual controls), the HPV vaccine has shown itself to be remarkably safe.