An open letter to Assemblymember Marie Waldron regarding AB 659

Julie Reeder

Publisher

I understand that, thankfully, the Gardasil HPV vaccine mandate has been dropped for grades 8-12 in Assembly Bill 659, but the college mandate remains.

Gardasil is yet another vaccine that is being pushed on healthy young people, despite hundreds of lawsuits presently being fought against it because of severe complications, including death, of young people who took the shot. Some video posts from parents show previously healthy young people laying in their beds, debilitated, trembling in constant pain 24 hours a day with no cure or hope in sight. It is Merck’s third-highest-grossing product.

Dr. Bernard Dalbergue, a former Merck physician said this, “I predict that Gardasil will become the greatest medical scandal of all times because at some point in time, the evidence will add up to prove that this vaccine, technical and scientific feat that it may be, has absolutely no effect on cervical cancer and that all the very many adverse effects which destroy lives and even kill, serve no other purpose than to generate profit for the manufacturers.”

Please fight to protect our children from big pharma, the lobbyists who fight for them and the politicians who take their contributions.

AB 659 now seeks to mandate HPV vaccine for college students to attend state universities and community colleges in California and would require a coercive “notification” be sent to 6th grade students and their parents “containing a statement … advising that the pupil be fully immunized against HPV before admission or advancement to the 8th grade level.”

College students deserve the freedom to choose whether or not they want this vaccine. Please insist the Committee amend the “notification containing a statement” to clearly state the HPV vaccine is not mandatory.

Why there is concern

• Gardasil, manufactured and marketed by Merck, received fast-tracked FDA approval, leaving many unanswered questions about its safety and efficacy.

• Gardasil only targets nine out of the over 200 strains of HPV.

• The risk of developing cancer from HPV is extremely rare. In the U.S., new cases of cervical cancer will affect approximately 0.8% of women, and approximately 0.2% of people will be diagnosed with anal cancer in their lifetime.

• Cervical cancer is largely treatable if caught early.

• Hundreds of individuals across the U.S. are filing lawsuits against Merck, claiming Gardasil caused serious, life-altering adverse effects, including death.

Gardasil can cause serious and debilitating adverse reactions for both boys and girls, including but not limited to:

◦ A multitude of autoimmune diseases.

◦ Autonomic dysfunction including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and orthostatic intolerance (OI).

◦ Premature ovarian failure (POF) that leads to infertility.

◦ Guillain-Barré syndrome.

◦ Encephalopathy.

◦ Other serious conditions, including death.

• Merck’s clinical trials of Gardasil did not look for or test for cancer prevention. Whether Gardasil provides any protection against cancer (let alone lifetime immunity) is unproven.

• For individuals with an active HPV infection at the time of vaccination, studies have shown up to a 44.6% increased risk of developing advanced abnormal pre-cancer not seen prior to vaccination.

• Over 90% of HPV infections cause no clinical symptoms, resolve without treatment and are cleared from the body by its own immune system. (A.C. de Freitas et al.)

• Since Gardasil’s introduction in 2006, the number of deaths from cervical cancer in the U.S. has shown essentially no improvement.

• This mandate would inhibit equal access to education and place students at risk for serious harm.

Gardasil still has unanswered questions on safety and efficacy. California no longer has philosophical or religious exemptions, and medical exemptions are nearly impossible to obtain while doctors are stripped of their licenses.

Please educate the committee members about the impact AB 659 would have on the children of California. Gardasil has proven risks and no liability for injuries or death. Below are the remaining concerns regarding AB 659.

Eliminate the language for state universities and community colleges to mandating Gardasil in AB 659. College students deserve the freedom to choose. Amend the “notification containing a statement” to specify that the HPV vaccine is not required for students in grades 8 through 12 to attend school.

This opinion piece contains information from the Children’s Health Defense Fund, which is fighting alongside parents in 60 lawsuits presently out of the hundreds that are in the courts at this time against Merck, alleging the drugmaker knowingly concealed adverse events associated with its Gardasil HPV vaccine.

Watch Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presentation on HPV and Gardasil for more information.