Be a courageous
By JENNY HOPE
A jab that could be given to hundreds of thousands of schoolgirls this autumn was at the centre at a safety scare last night following the deaths of two young women.
European regulators are investigating the "sudden and unexpected" deaths of the women who received Gardasil, one of two jabs to protect against cervical cancer licensed for use in the UK.
The vaccine has been hailed as a breakthrough by the Department of Health, which is backing an annual programme of vaccination for girls aged 11 to 13 years starting in September.
The jab is already available privately and a thirteen-year-old girl from London became the first in the country to receive the cervical cancer vaccine in 2006. Hollie Anderson's mother, Lisa, paid £450 for her to have the jab after seeing her own mother battle against cancer.
The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) said one of the young women who received Gardasil died in Germany while the other was in Austria. It has not released their ages.
It follows the deaths of three young women aged 12, 19 and 22 who were reported to have died in the U.S. days after Gardasil was administered, with 1,700 patients suffering "adverse reactions". There were no previous recorded deaths in Europe.
The EMEA said: "In both cases, the cause of death could not be identified.
"No causal relationship has been established between the deaths of the young women and the administration of Gardasil."
A spokesman said 1.5million people had been given the vaccine in Europe.
She said there were no plans to change advice on the use of the vaccine.
The UK vaccination programme will protect girls against the sexually-transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer.
It should help cut up to 1,000 deaths a year from the disease.
Gardasil, made by Merck, is one of the jabs to be used initially. The other is Cervarix, made by Glaxo-SmithKline.
Dr Nicholas Kitchin, medical director at Sanofi Pasteur MSD, which markets Gardasil, said: "The authorities in the two countries have looked intensively at these two cases and have not established a causal link, and this has been endorsed by the EMEA.
"The fact that the EMEA is not taking any action on the back of this should be seen as reassuring that the product remains safe."
