By Rebecca F. Sisk for KansasLiberty.com

Complications with the new drug Gardasil, which protects against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer in women, are alarming several organizations nationwide, including some in the state of Kansas.

Gardasil was first licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2006. The demand for the vaccination spread quickly throughout the United States. The drug has been approved for girls as young as nine, and some state and local governments are pushing for the vaccination to be made mandatory for girls entering sixth grade.

However, Judicial Watch, a Washington DC-based watchdog organization, reported last week that based on documents from the FDA, Gardasil has been implicated in at least 10 deaths since just September.

The Kansas chapter of Concerned Women of America has joined the national battle to have the vaccination campaign reconsidered.

The number of deaths may even be higher, according to Judicial Watch, since many physicians are not required to report incidents involving the drug.  Gardasil has a lengthy list of adverse side-effects - foaming at the mouth, comatosis, skin ulcers, paralysis, arthritis, 40 cases of seizures, Guillian-Barre Syndrome, among others - which have been published on the VAERS website.

Last year, CWA testified before the House Health and Human Services committee against mandating the vaccine for young girls upon entering public schools. 

According to CWA, the clinical trial director for the initial Gardasil trials, Dr. Diane M. Harper, warned that “the HPV vaccine is not for younger girls” and that requiring teenage girls to get the vaccine is “a great big public health experiment.” 

WorldNetDaily reported the Center for Disease Control is monitoring the drug's problems, too. The CDC is suggesting that the vaccine not be mandated, according to a report released last year.

In Kansas, CWA has lobbied against the inoculation of young girls, citing a false sense of security in vaccinated girls and young women. Merck, the distributor of Gardasil, can only give women a projected amount of time - five years - that the vaccination will remain effective.

The company cannot say for sure that the vaccination will protect against cervical cancer for life, as has been widely claimed. Judicial Watch noted that the drug would not be fully tested for safety until 2009.

CWA says they are concerned that requiring young girls to receive the vaccination only gives assured protection until their late teens, which may defeat the purpose of the vaccination - to protect them before becoming sexually active.

Gardasil is effective for the two strains of the HPV virus that can cause cervical cancer. According to CWA, the vaccination does not cover any other strains of the HPV virus, which account for 30% of cervical cancers.

According to the FDA, “For women who do develop cervical cancer, HPV is generally the root cause. In 2006, it is estimated that there will be 9,710 new cases of cervical cancer and 3,700 deaths attributed to it in the United States. Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women; and it is estimated to cause over 470,000 new cases and 233,000 deaths per year.”

The drug's price tag is also a concern for some. The regimen for the Gardasil shot is three shots over a six-month period, with the total cost between $360-400.  “The vaccine will be more expensive than all other child vaccines put together,” says John Schiller, a National Cancer Institute investigator told WorldNetDaily.

An earlier report estimated the cost to buy vaccinations for the nation’s poorest girls is $2 billion.

However, according to the CDC, most large insurance companies are willing to cover recommended vaccines, and poor children aged 18 or younger are eligible for free vaccines through the Vaccines for Children Program, or VFC. While doctors may charge a small fee for each shot, VFC vaccines cannot be denied to an eligible child if their family cannot afford to pay.

Many states, including Kansas, also offer free or low-cost vaccines at public health department clinics for people who don’t have coverage or insurance.

• Rebecca F. Sisk is a freelance journalist based in Manhattan, Kansas.