HHS HealthBeat (November 13, 2009)

The safety of the HPV vaccine

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ted Pestorius with HHS HealthBeat.

A survey finds that a new vaccine against cervical cancer is about as safe as any other vaccine.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Barbara Slade reviewed national health data through a database of voluntary reports on vaccines.

[Barbara Slade speaks] "For 23 million doses that were sent out, we’ve received 12,424 reports."

Of those reports, only about 6 percent were considered serious. Those include 20 verified deaths of widely varying causes, and two cases of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The researchers say they can’t tell if those resulted in some way from the vaccine. So the researchers conclude that the vaccine looks safe for the girls and young women who should get it. So far, more than 7 million have.

The study is in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ted Pestorius.

Last revised: November, 13 2009