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A schoolgirl's death, and the questions haunting parents over immunisations
On Monday morning, Natalie Morton lined up to receive the cervical cancer vaccine along with many of her school friends. Soon afterwards she complained of feeling unwell. By lunchtime, the 14-year-old was dead.
Officials last night confirmed her death was due to a "serious underlying medical condition", and it was unlikely to be connected to the jab, but already, parents whose daughters have either been given or are due to have the jab had begun asking questions to which there are as yet no conclusive answers.
In wake of the tragedy, health chiefs immediately tried to offer reassurance. The batch of vaccine given to Natalie was placed in quarantine and the immunisation programme in Coventry where the youngster had attended school was "paused". The move was described as a purely "precautionary measure", but while the Department of Health insisted there were no plans to halt the vaccinations nationally, many took matters into their own hands.
The London borough of Havering postponed a series of planned vaccinations and, after it emerged that thousands of girls have previously reported adverse side-effects, many others may yet follow suit.
To date, there have been 4,657 suspected reactions from the 1.4 million Cervarix jabs so far administered and the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency has revealed it received 2,137 reports between April 14 and September 23 this year.
Most have been minor complaints of nausea and dizziness, but they also have details of one girl who suffered convulsions and another who had an epileptic fit shortly after having the vaccination. Several case of paralysis and blurred vision have also been reported to the watchdog.
"A young girl went to school on Monday and she did not come home," says Jackie Fletcher, founder of Jabs, the support group for children damaged by vaccines.
"Until investigations have been carried out and until the conclusions are made public, the immunisation programme, not just in Coventry, but across the country, should be suspended.
"We have had reports of girls who are now facing long-term health problems following the injections.
"One girl has been in hospital since September suffering from paralysis, another has suffered multiple seizures which means she can no longer drive and another has had severe muscle spasms.
"As an organisation, we are not claiming that these cases are directly linked to the immunisation programme, but they are very serious complaints and surely it is worth thorough investigation?"
Even before this week's developments, the vaccine had not been without controversy.
The primary cause of cervical cancer, is the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a common infection transmitted through sexual intercourse.
Around 80 per cent of sexually-active women can expect to get an HPV infection at some point, but some feared the multi-million pound immunisation programme might encourage promiscuity among young girls.
"The vaccine is currently being given to 12 to 14-year-old girls," adds Jackie.
"At that age they are not automatically at risk of contracting the virus and it is now time to stop and ask whether there are better ways of protecting our children.
"Whatever we might like to think, teenagers are more sexually active than they once were and we do need to raise awareness of the dangers of sexually transmitted viruses.
"Teenagers also need to feel they can talk to their GP and we were very disappointed when earlier this year calls to lower the age of cervical smear testing were rejected by the Government.
"Currently, testing on the NHS is only available for those aged 26 years and over. It would seem to be common sense to allow younger women and teenagers to request tests if they feel it necessary, but the powers that be don't seem to see it that way."
The case of Natalie Morton has inevitably reinforced those safety concerns, but those on the other side of the argument are also calling for calm amid fears her sudden death could be used to distort the real picture of cervical cancer and its potentially devastating effects.
Each year, around 2,800 British women are diagnosed with the disease – the second most common cancer in women under 35 – and more than 1,000 die from it.
The profile of the condition was raised following the death of Jade Goody, who lost her very public battle with the disease in March of this year.
When plans for a national vaccination were announced, the majority of parents supported the scheme. Experts still stand by predictions it will eventually save 700 lives a year and the risk of severe, potentially life-threatening reactions is estimated at no more than one per million doses.
However, parental confidence will not be won with simple statistics and with this week also seeing the launch of the much publicised trial of
swine flu vaccines – 1,000 youngsters are testing two possible drugs in five centres across the UK – the stakes could not be higher.
Amid fears many parents will now be reluctant to give their consent for vaccination, many in the medical profession have been quick to stress that the risks are minor, unproven and do not outweigh the benefit of saving lives.
"Stopping the vaccination programme at this point in time would be an overreaction," says Dr David Elliman, a consultant in community paediatrics at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
"As tragic as it is, young people do die suddenly, vaccine or no vaccine.
"We have a lot of experience of this particular vaccine both in this country and abroad and the case of this young girl is the first of its kind.
"We know that after many foods, many medicines and many vaccines, people may have severe allergic reactions.
"Because it's something unique to an individual it doesn't necessarily have wider implications. It does happen, but we need to remember it is in fact very uncommon and it would not be a reason to withdraw the vaccine.
"A myth continues to persist that contracting the viruses which causes cervical cancer is linked to promiscuity. The majority are transmitted by sexual intercourse, but I think we would all agree that is not the same thing.
"When it comes to vaccinations we have a lot to learn from what happened with MMR. In spite of being constantly told the vaccine was backed by good research, people became concerned and lots of parents did not have their children vaccinated.
"With the cervical cancer vaccine, there have been reports in the media about girls who have developed ME after being given the jab. However, the regulatory body has looked at the number of cases which have been
reported and compared it to the number of cases you would expect in the same age group who had not been given the jab. There was no difference.
"If we are to allay people's fears this time around, all those involved need to move quickly."
That will be easier said than done and whatever the final results of the post-mortem on the Coventry teenager, the immunisation programme has been left in disarray.
"Parents do find themselves in an incredibly difficult position of trying to balance the risks associated with vaccination compared with the risks of not having their child protected against disease," adds Jackie, who set up Jabs after her son suffered a massive seizure 10 days after receiving the MMR vaccination. He is now 18 years-old and will need round-the-clock care for the rest of his life.
"However, what everyone needs to remember is the biggest price anyone can pay is the death of their child."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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