Mother of jab teen calls for vaccine ban
The mother of a Bilston teenager left brain-damaged after falling ill within days of being given Cervarix, the controversial cervical cancer vaccine, has called for the jab to be banned in schools.
The mother of a Bilston teenager left brain-damaged after falling ill within days of being given Cervarix, the controversial cervical cancer vaccine, has called for the jab to be banned in schools.
Stacey Jones was 17 when she received the injection, which is being offered to all schoolgirls under a Government programme.
The youngster, now 19, suffered her first epileptic seizure within days of having the vaccination at a NHS clinic and has since suffered memory loss.Doctors said the epilepsy was caused by swelling of the brain.But her parents Julie and Kerry Jones, have been given no explanation as to how the damage occurred.
They claim there are unanswered questions about the long-term effectiveness and safety of Cervarix and have refused it for their 17-year-old daughter Elsa.
Mrs Jones, 45, travelled to Westminster this week to discuss the issue with Health Minister Gillian Merron, who insisted the vaccine was safe but promised to look into the concerns raised by the mother-of-two.
Mrs Jones urged the minister to find out if there were any other similar cases to Stacey's involving girls who may have suffered adverse reactions after receiving the cervical cancer vaccine - and demanded further research be carried out into its safety.
She said: "Before she was a bubbly, lovely girl. Now she is not the same person. She is totally different.
"She was perfectly fine until she had this vaccine. I think there hasn't been enough research into it. I had a letter through the door about it - and you just think you do what is best for the kids at the end of the day
."I think it should be banned from schools. I have not let the younger daughter have it," she added.
Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, who was lobbied on the issue by Mrs Jones and helped set up and also attended the meeting with the minister.
The case has been reported to the Medicines and Health care products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the drug safety watchdog which collects information on suspected side-effects of medicines and vaccines and investigates links.
A report by the public health body earlier this month revealed that some 3.5 million doses of the vaccine had been administered between April 2008 and March, this year, during which there had been 3,652 reports about some 8,065 instances of suspected adverse reactions.
