Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What I said is that their symptoms are real and they are unwell and nobody is suggesting for a second that anyone is making anything up, or that any of the young women is doing so. What I did not say was that they were as a result of a side-effect or that they were caused by this vaccine because there is no epidemiological evidence to support that view. That is a belief not something that is based in evidence or fact, or at least as we understand it.

I remember not that long ago a similar vaccine scare around the measles, mumps and rubella, MMR, vaccine and some people believing that it caused autism because children developed autism at around the same time as they were getting that vaccine. Some may even still believe it. That does not stack up in evidence. The doctor who originally made those claims was struck off for falsifying some of the research. As a result of that parents were scared off giving their children the MMR vaccine, or in some cases, for whatever reasons, decided to give separate vaccines. It is very important that we as parliamentarians are careful not to give credence to something like that happening again. We can keep an open mind on new evidence but we should not give credence to anything that may discourage parents from giving this vaccine to their daughter to prevent her getting cancer.

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