As Police investigations continue into the death of the 14-year-old girl from Savusavu last week, Permanent Secretary for Health Philip Davies has stressed that the HPV vaccination is safe and protects against cervical cancer which is a major cause of death for women.
When asked by fijivillage on the Fijian Health Ministry’s stand and the message to the people of Fiji regarding the HPV vaccine, Davies said that the World Health Organization’s independent Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety has found no safety issue that would alter its recommendations for the use of HPV vaccine and has noted that policy decisions based on weak evidence or misinformation that lead to preventing or stopping the use of safe and effective vaccines, can result in real harm.
Davies says the program is not a trial and it is an organised public health intervention which offers significant benefits to the population of Fiji.
He says many large‑scale clinical trials have shown HPV vaccine to be effective in protecting against the human papilloma virus which is a major cause of cervical cancer.
Davies says parental consent is also sought before the injections are given to the girls.
When asked, he says that there is no evidence that links HPV vaccination to serious side‑effects, including death.
Davies says according to analysis carried out by the United States Centers for Disease Control, any side effects are not serious and do not differ from those encountered with other vaccines.
He says in the case of HPV they may include “fainting; dizziness; nausea; headache; and pain, swelling, or redness in the arm where the shot was given”.
Police spokesperson Jokatama Qio says the 14-year-old girl from Savusavu was found lying in her bathroom on Thursday afternoon.
He says the parents came home and found the girl in the bathroom.
Qio says the cause of death is brittle pulmonary hemorrhage.
The parents are claiming that their daughter passed away after getting the HPV injection at her school.
Education Minister Doctor Mahendra Reddy had earlier said that he does not think it's appropriate to link the death to the injection as yet, and people should wait for the outcome of the investigation.
