Co Kildare parents are appealing for HSE to investigate vaccine for young girls

A Co Kildare father and founder of the renowned Jack & Jill Foundation is appealing for an investigation into the problems he claims are being caused by HPV vaccine Gardasil.

According to the HSE, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine protects girls from developing cervical cancer when they are adults.

The HSE has offered the HPV vaccine, which is recommended by the World Health Organisation,  to all girls in first year in second level schools since 2010 to protect them from cervical cancer in adulthood. HPV vaccine is offered to this age group because the response to the vaccine is best at this age, according to experts.

However,  there is deep opposition to this vaccine from hundreds of Irish parents, including Jonathan Irwin along with his wife Mary O'Brien, former Senator and owner of Lily O'Briens Chocolates.

Mr Irwin's daughter is 17-years-old. The former All-Ireland equestrian champion now has never been on a horse or pony since taking the vaccine, her father claims, and has been unable to get the energy or concentration to undertake the Junior Cert. She was 13 when she got the HPV vaccine.

Her parents are hopeful that their youngest child will be able to complete the Leaving Cert, next year.

Mr Irwin said: " We are fighting to get more awareness. Nobody knows if this vaccine actually works. We are hoping that she will be strong enough to do the Leaving Cert. As her parents we saw the immediate impact on our daughter in front of our eyes and it was devastating to watch our vibrant daughter reduced to a shadow of herself."

The teenager,due to her illness, has been unable to attend school for over a year. She loved school, says her father, but does not have the energy anymore.

Blood tests reveal that Mr Irwin's daughter has aluminium in her system. It seems, worries Mr Irwin, that her immune system is now suppressed.

Mr Irwin, who has seen the death of three sons, has raised €35 million and supported more then 2,000 families through the Jack and Jill Foundation. The father of nine children is deeply concerned for his youngest.

He said: "We are not fruitcakes, we have a very sick child. Tell us why?."

Mr Irwin and former Senator Mary O'Brien is  calling on the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, and the HSE, on his social media appeal,  for

• Full and frank information about this vaccine from the HSE in all their literature for families
• A commitment to listening to and investigating the problems highlighted by families.

During this summer, the Co Kildare teenager has been receiving treatment abroad. Speaking to KildareNow, Mr Irwin revealed that his daughter has spent some time  getting medical care at a clinic in Germany and is just back from a clinic in America.

Mr Irwin said:" I am glad to report that our daughter is recovering well. She is not restored to her former self yet but she’s getting there; day by day and with intensive therapy but it has been a long, hard road and we still have a long way to go.We are not reckless attention seekers. We are not anti-vaccine. We reject those labels and we are offended by them. I wish I didn’t have this story to tell. But I do. And I have always believed that telling the truth and recognising the chink in the chain will strengthen it."

Meanwhile, latest HSE figures reveal a dramatic fall in the uptake of a cancer-preventing vaccine requires urgent action for it to be addressed, the newly-formed HPV Vaccination Alliance has said.

The dramatic fall in the uptake of a cancer-preventing vaccine requires urgent action for it to be addressed, the newly-formed HPV Vaccination Alliance has said.

Kildare has seen a steep drop in uptake of the HPV vaccine, which protects against the strains of Human Papilloma Virus which cause seven in ten cases of cervical cancer in women, the HSE claims. In the 2015/2016 school year 329 schoolgirls in the Kildare/West Wicklow Local Health Office area declined the offer of the free vaccine. This meant just 81.2% of girls eligible to receive the vaccine in Kildare and West Wicklow actually got it, down from 95.9% the previous year.

Provisional figures show that uptake fell even more sharply in 2016/2017, falling to as low as 50% nationally.

In response, more than 30 organisations, including leading health, children and women’s groups, have come together to express their alarm at this dramatic and life-threatening fall in numbers.

At the launch of the Alliance, Donal Buggy, Head of Services and Advocacy at the Irish Cancer Society, said:“When it comes to the HPV vaccine, the jury is in – the vaccine is safe and saves lives. The Irish Cancer Society has been vocal on this issue for quite some time."

He said:“It’s only natural that parents are fearful when they hear claims about a vaccine. It’s terrible that young girls get sick, but to link their illness to a life-saving vaccine when all the research shows no link is dangerous and threatens lives."

Mr Buggy said: “Large studies looking at 3-4 million women, vaccinated and unvaccinated, found no evidence whatsoever that HPV vaccination causes any immune or nervous system disorder.  The World Health Organisation and the European Medicines Agency have concluded that the injection is safe and has no link to any serious illnesses. All the evidence does show, however, that the vaccine prevents cervical cancer. That’s why the decision parents make now on the vaccine can have serious consequences for their daughters.”