A new campaign

Another mass-immunisation campaign is now in full swing. Family Planning's Dr Christine Roke says Gardasil - the new human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine - has the potential to reduce cervical cancer rates by 70 percent and genital warts by 90 percent as long as it's given to girls before they become sexually active.

The official HPV material's bright and cheery. Fact sheets feature a group of vibrant teenagers smiling at the camera: "Join the fight against cervical cancer". But email attachments have already begun to circulate claiming Gardasil causes a high rate of serious adverse reactions.

The Ministry says that Gardasil's one of the most extensively tested vaccines available today: "It was subject to clinical trials involving more than 20,000 women from 33 countries, including New Zealand. Based on its safety and efficacy, it has been licensed for use in more than 100 countries."

We asked the Ministry how it planned to address concerns about the HPV vaccine during the campaign. Dr Pat Tuohy says: "Public health nurses are providing information in schools. The best approach we can take is to be honest and up front with the information we have ... We'll provide access to health professionals through a toll-free 0800 number, information on our website and links to reputable clinical and reporting information."

Three concerns

Fuelling the concerns of some parents have been well-publicised but ultimately unfounded claims about the safety of various vaccines.

Vaccine-acquired polio

Summer outbreaks of polio occurred here throughout the 1950s until the Salk and Sabin vaccines stopped them. Nearly full immunisation against polio was achieved by 1961.

Since then, there have been no cases of "wild" polio in New Zealand but four confirmed and two suspected cases of "vaccine acquired polio". All six were linked to the Sabin oral polio vaccine (OPV). The OPV is a live vaccine that occasionally gains virulence in an infant's stomach.

We now use an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) that's delivered with other vaccines like the diphtheria vaccine. According to the Immunisation Advisory Centre, 90 million doses of the IPV vaccine have been delivered worldwide with no severe adverse reactions reported.

MMR and autism

British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield published two studies in 1998 that suggested the MMR vaccine might lead to autism. His theory was that the vaccine could cause inflammatory bowel disease and prevent absorption of essential vitamins and nutrients leading to developmental disorders.

Since Wakefield published his theory numerous studies have failed to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The World Health Organization (WHO) says: "Other scientists have not been able to reproduce the results claimed by Wakefield and his team."

Most of Wakefield's co-authors have also retracted their names from the original study: "We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was established between (the) vaccine and autism."

MeNZB and chronic fatigue

Our MeNZB vaccine was based on a vaccine developed in Norway. The Norwegians reviewed their trials following media reports that the vaccine was linked to chronic fatigue (ME). The investigation sparked similar fears here.

However, the link between chronic fatigue and the vaccine was never proven. The World Health Organization gathered data from Meningococcal B campaigns in Cuba, France, New Zealand and Norway - it concluded: "the study provided no evidence of an increased risk of ME".