Natalie Morton, Cervical Cancer And A Scare Story
SCARE Story: A 14-year-old girl in Coventry, one Natalie Morton, has died shortly after being given the cervical cancer vaccine at school.
Time to panic! And a time for a rare moment of understatement. On the school’s website, a message from the headmistress:
Immunisation tests were carried out today in the school to all girls eligible to receive the HPV1 vaccine. During the session an unfortunate incident occurred and one of the girls suffered a rare, but extreme reaction to the vaccine. A number of other girls also reported being unwell and some were sent home.
And then the headlines in which the jab and the death are linked by fact:
Metro: “Cervical jab fear as girl, 14, dies”
The death has raised questions about the safety of the vaccine, the secrecy surrounding clinical trials and why Britain has chosen a different type to most other countries.
Daily Telegraph: “Tributes to 14-year-old schoolgirl who died after being given cervical cancer jab”
“Charmaine Dunn-Myria, 15, who was in the same year as Natalie, said: “There was panic around the school when we found out what happened. Girls were in tears in the corridors and everyone was in shock. I had my jab today as well and I was really worried about it and that something was going to happen to me. They never told us that there was any danger in these jabs. I didn’t know you could get sick or die from them.”
Well, nothing has been proven. And the Telegraph seeks to dampen fears by telling readers:
But since April last year the MHRA has received more than 2,000 reports of suspected reactions to the vaccine, including 409 related to anaphylactic shock, which can be rapidly fatal.
Channel 4: “Cervical cancer jab fears after girl dies”
“No link can be made between the death and the vaccine until all the facts are known and a post-mortem takes place.
Sky:
“NHS Coventry said although no link had been made between the death and the vaccination, it had quarantined the batch used at the school as a “precautionary measure”.
Daily Mirror: “14-year-old girl dies after cervical cancer jab”
GIRL, 14, DIES IN CANCER JAB SCARE
Scare? Or scare story?
About 1.4million vaccine doses have been given since last September. The jab guards against the human papilloma virus, a sexually transmitted infection that causes 70 per cent of cervical cancers. Health officials last night stressed that there was not yet any evidence the jab was responsible for Natalie’s death.
A girl has died, and that is tragic. And her name is being used to spread the fear, today’s media scare story.
Posted: 29th, September 2009 | In: Key Posts, Scare Stories Comments (10) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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October 2nd, 2009 at 7:57 pm
That little girl that was in her year gave a well worded acount of things
September 30th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
All sensible words, June. I thank you for them.
September 30th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Magnetite
The powers that be work on our fears of a ‘known’ ( cancer), for good or ill I don’t know whether preventing that ‘known’ will cause other equally distressing conditions in later generations.
Its possible a young child today may be cured of an horrendous illness to live either a fulfilling and rewarding life, as a parent and in a career he loves or end his days as a junkie, a drunk driver killing someone elses child or even as some sort of saviour of mankind or a mass murderer.
We cannot tell the future, we have to be optimistic , and hope the world and Nature carries on taking care of our genetic descendents, and if Nature fails them , mankind steps in with some sort of cure or prevention.
Antibiotics only really got going in the 1940’s, if, because of early tragic results (which would have occurred anyway) pharmacists were stopped in their research until all doubts were removed and all side effects prevented its very likely a lot of us wouldn’t be alive today. I received a lot of antibiotics as a child in the 50’s because of a tuberculosis affected gland. This was due to unpasteurised milk and a lot of people developed the condition , some died of it, and some died because of miscalculations in the antibiotics.
It takes years to train as a chemist/pharmacist, just as long as a doctor.
Perhaps you could consult an independent gynaeologist and obstetrician to find your answers
September 30th, 2009 at 9:00 am
It seems that Natalie had an underlying health problem , which may have caused her death????
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8281673.stm
The numbers aren’t that large, but surely the medics/scientists should pay attention to the headaches, nausea and dizziness produced, especially in such young girls.
I also notice that it isn’t compulsory to have the vaccine, that should be made clearer.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Anonymous, your comment hadn’t appeared at the time I wrote my last comment on this subject (8:43pm 29th - yours appeared at around 08:11am today, the 30th). Just so that you know that I wasn’t ignoring or disrespecting your words, feelings or grief at the loss of your friend.
I cannont speak for June, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was trying to prevent me from spooking myself, my daughter (or anyone else reading) unnecessarily over the vaccine. I posed the original question about the HPV1 jab here because the majority of Anorak’s readership and commentators are women. Caring, intelligent, respectful ones at that - especially June.
As for myself, I am an embittered cynic who has heard the words ‘your sister will be okay’; ‘your father will be okay’; ‘there’s a good chance we can treat this’ - each time followed by the death (inevitable death-to-come in the last case) to be entirely trusting of the medical community telling me ‘everything will be alright’ without wanting to find out for myself as much as I can. The shadows of these past losses fell over every word in my question and subsequent posts. Perhaps I should have just quietly researched this myself instead of asking for help, here or anywhere else. No disrespect to Natalie Morton, or her family and friends was meant, and nothing but sympathies offered.
They were just overshadowed by my own fears for those I love and care for.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Thanks for responding June. The letter from offspring’s GP says however that ’supplies are limited’ - and if this vaccine is, without reservation, A Good Thing, then I should hurry and inform myself, then her, then shuffle her down to the docs for the jab before they run out. If this is, God forbid, something like a new Thalidomide, then at least I’d like to discover whether earlier test groups had any problems during their later pregnancies (I’ve yet to discover whether any follow-up tests on women of child-bearing age who went on to become pregnant after the vaccine were done, but I’ve just started on the documents that I have now) or whether our NICE chosen vaccine Cervarix is less effective/less ADR-prone/sample tested than the alternative Gardisil.
All the NHS immunisation site says on why one was chosen over the other is a pointer to a PDF document on the tendering process, and I’d rather have to learn about virology then tendering bureaucracy.
All the NHS site says about how the vaccine was tested is this: “The vaccine (Cervarix®), in line with all medicines, has undergone rigorous testing with large numbers of people before being licensed.”
Thanks NHS. How big a test group? What age range? What follow-ip studies were done?
I’d rather worry myself unnecessarily, than know absolutely nothing, which is what that quote above tells me. Typing ‘HPV’ or ‘HPV1′ or ‘cervarix’ into the site’s FAQ search box gives this result: “There were no results matching your search terms”.
I’d like to know whether my children’s children will have problems. Right now I don’t. I need to allay my fears, fears that have nothing to do with the death of a young girl, no matter how tragic, newsworthy or topical that death may be.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
oh my god you cannot be serious… i was in nats year and had the jab at the same time and we were apparantly given a dodgy batch. of about 70.Magnetite, you are very disrespectful by saying its her families tragedy…if its just her families tragedy why were there nealy 400 people gathered at the wooden cross at the front of our school praying and crying? the 6th form was dead…the lessons were dead. we had to be escorted to school because of press.and that silly nurse who said her death is nothing because more lives will be saved. its bull…and also they will never find out why she died bacuse the injecion was given into our bloodstreams and even if a post mortem is carried out they cant exactly drain her body of its blood and test it all…. the answers are lost with her death. its a tragedy
rest in peace natalie god bless you.xxxx
September 29th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Magnetite,
Until they find out exactly why this girl died, its best to not even think on it.
Its her family’s tragedy now, who knows what may have developed later in her life if she had not received the vaccine, or even if she had.
Her death could have happened anyway yesterday, no-one (except the Pathologist) knows.
It will take a while for tests to be developed, until then its best not to panic, or blind yourself with Science, which none us understands fully.
There’s nothing to be gained or lost in the search for the truth here.
RIP Natalie
September 29th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
s’okay, I’ve found a lot of materials at the mhra and adr.org sites and their external links (ema, etc) plus Lancet and Journals of immunology and virology to sift through. They certainly give you more info than the cheetily bland nhs immunisation site. Time to keep my offspring’s womb/life/future from oncogenes/adverse reactions etc. (if I can both digest and understand the terminology). If the programme goes on hold due to this tragic event, I’ll have time to learn more - like will it affect the bpdy’s reaction to the other HPV variants. Seems a shame to prevent cervical cancer and let skin cancer more readily in the door (if that is the case. which it is probably not.
Some of this stuff seems to be for doctors only. Should I really have been allowed to access this without passwords or being part of an intranet? Ah well. So it goes.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Does anyone know how it works? Or where to find out? I know virtually nothing of immunology, virology, etc. but I am prepared to learn - as the little ‘un has been offered this vaccine. I do not fear her instant death, as in this poor girl’s case, but rather loss of fertility, problems beoming pregnant (or during pregnancy) and even complications as late as the meniopause. No:1 Son is past the age range for this vaccination, but I’d like little ‘un, her mother and myself to be properly oinformed, even it it means long and deep research into the disciplines above. It’s somewhere to start at least.
My sympathies, obviously, go out to Natalie Morton’s family and those who know her.