Ms Jacqueline Hogan:

Professor Harald zur Hausen, the person who isolated the HPV vaccine, stated that although the vast majority of women clear the infection through their own immunological systems, persistent infection remains in around 1% of women, and these are the women at risk from cervical cancer. In Ireland at present, all 12- and 13-year-old girls in first year of secondary school are being subjected to a vaccine for a disease they may never come into contact with. That is not even to state that the HPV infection goes on to create cancer. Many people have had HPV infection without developing cancer. That is an important statement: all our girls are being subjected to this vaccine in first year but only 1% are likely to have the infection.

The adverse reactions reported as a result of the vaccine have been noted by Judicial Watch, the public interest group based in Washington that investigates and prosecutes Government corruption. It announced that it has received new documents from the US Food and Drug Administration, dated 19 October 2011, under the US freedom of information legislation, detailing reports of adverse reactions to the vaccine. The report details 26 new deaths between 1 September 2010 and 15 September 2011, as well as incidents of seizures, paralysis, blindness, pancreatitis, speech problems, short-term memory loss and Guillain-Barré syndrome. The documents are from the FDA's vaccine adverse event reporting systems.

We are all led to believe vaccines are safe and can be given without harm. If that is the case, why has the national vaccine injury compensation programme in the United States paid out almost $2 billion in damages to those who have suffered serious adverse reactions to vaccines? We cannot state that vaccines are safe when compensation is being paid to families. There are cases of girls who have died. Jessica Erickson died 40 hours after she received her third vaccine. Her parents came home from work to find her collapsed in her bathroom. She is not the only girl this has happened to. Those in authority are not listening to parents' concerns, however, and children have become very ill after administration of this vaccine. This is a disease that will lead to cancer in less than 1% of women, but we are submitting all our young children to a vaccine that carries such high risks. That is not very ethical.