Mother: Gardasil disabled my child
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Ann O’Loughlin
A mother who claims her daughter suffered “horrendous adverse effects” after receiving the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer has brought proceedings in the High Court.
Fiona Kirby, Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, is a member of a new parents’ support group Reaction and Effects of Gardasil Resulting in Extreme Trauma (Regret) for those who claim their teenage girls became ill after getting the vaccine. Ms Kirby, a nurse, is seeking a High Court order looking for the withdrawal of the license for the Gardasil HPV vaccine which is currently being offered to 11- to 16-year-old girls as a possible cervical cancer preventative.
An order restraining the Health Products Regulatory Authority — which monitors health products in Ireland — from proceeding with the use of Gardasil in any vaccine programme is also being sought. The vaccine which has been offered to teenage girls in Ireland since May 2010 as part of the schools vaccination programme is recommended by the World Health Organisation.
The parents support group has said that there are about 100 young girls who have allegedly reported illness after getting the vaccine.
In her proceedings, Ms Kirby has claimed that, within 24 hours of receiving the vaccination in October 2011, her 11-year-old daughter presented with severe flu-like symptoms.
She said the flu-like symptoms reappeared after her daughter got her second vaccine shot. In a grounding affidavit, Ms Kirby said her daughter did not receive the third dose of the vaccine.
She has claimed her daughter became extremely fatigued and suffered severe nausea, which led to weight loss and muscle wastage. She said the young girl also missed days at school and in March 2012 was hospitalised with bilateral pneumonia and was on antibiotics for six weeks.
Ms Kirby said her daughter is now disabled to the point that she needs to be cared for on a permanent basis. In the grounding affidavit, Ms Kirby said her daughter suffered “horrendous adverse effects” directly after receiving the vaccine.
She said she thought her daughter’s problems were an isolated case but she claimed there are other girls in the country suffering “similar continuous life-changing health problems” which it is claimed all happened shortly after they received the Gardasil vaccine.
In court yesterday, Ms Kirby was flanked by other women who are all members of the support group. The case will come back before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan in three weeks when the Health Products Regulatory Authority has filed a replying affidavit.
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