Research abstract:
HPV vaccination and risk of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: A nationwide register-based study from Norway by Berit Feiring, Ida Laake, Inger Johanne Bakken, Margrethe Greve-Isdahl, Vegard Bruun Wyller, Siri E. Haberg, Per Magnus, Lill Trogstad in Vaccine [Available online 23 June 2017]
Background:
Vaccination has been suggested to be involved in the aetiology of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). HPV vaccine was introduced in the Norwegian Childhood Immunisation Programme and offered 12 year old girls from 2009. We studied the association between HPV vaccination and risk of CFS/ME and also assessed medical history in relation to both risk of CFS/ME and HPV vaccine uptake.
Methods:
Individual data from national registries, including the Norwegian Population Registry, the Norwegian Patient Registry and the Norwegian Immunisation Registry were linked using the unique personal identification number. Yearly incidence rates of CFS/ME for 2009-2014 were calculated among the 824,133 boys and girls, aged 10-17 living in Norway during these 6 years. A total of 176,453 girls born 1997-2002 were eligible for HPV vaccination and included in further analyses.
Hazard ratios (HRs) of CFS/ME were estimated using Cox regression.
Risk differences (RDs) of vaccine uptake were estimated with binomial regression.
Results:
A similar yearly increase in incidence rate of CFS/ME was observed among girls and boys, IRR=1.15 (95% confidence interval (CI)
1.10-1.19) and 1.15 (95% CI 1.09-1.22), respectively. HPV vaccination was not associated with CFS/ME, HR=0.86 (95% CI 0.69-1.08) for the entire follow-up period and 0.96 (95% CI 0.64-1.43) for the first two years after vaccination. The risk of CFS/ME increased with increasing number of previous hospital contacts, HR=5.23 (95% CI 3.66-7.49) for 7 or more contacts as compared to no contacts. Girls with 7 or more hospital contacts were less likely to be vaccinated than girls with no previous hospital contacts, RD=−5.5% (95% CI −6.7% to −4.2%).
Conclusions:
No indication of increased risk of CFS/ME following HPV vaccination was observed among girls in the first 6 birth cohorts offered HPV vaccine through the national immunisation programme in Norway.
Articles on the research:
Norwegian Institute of Public Health news blog: No increased risk of chronic fatigue syndrome after HPV vaccination
Daily mail article, 24 June: Controversial HPV vaccine DOESN’T cause chronic fatigue syndrome in teenage girls, major study confirms
Some girls have reported signs of chronic fatigue syndrome after having the jab
However, health officials across the world have always strongly denied the link
And new research on more than 175,000 Norwegian girls shows they are right
Science blog post, By Gretchen Vogel, 27 June 2017: Decision by Europe’s top court alarms vaccine experts
Did the European Union’s highest court just deal a blow to science? “Vaccines can be blamed for illness without scientific proof,”
In a major landmark ruling, the European Court of Justice has determined that a vaccine can be blamed for triggering a disease or causing harm even when there isn’t any scientific evidence to establish a link.
This opens the door to claims from the many thousands of parents who have been blocked from being awarded damages after their child suffered a long-term health problem following vaccination.
The Telegraph online post, by Sarah Knapton, 22 June 2017: European Court of Justice ruling could open floodgates for spurious vaccination claims
The European Court of Justice has been accused of undermining Britain’s vaccination programme after ruling that patients can sue for illnesses they believe were caused by jabs, even when there is no scientific evidence.
The EU’s highest court said that if a number of healthy people developed a disease shortly after receiving a vaccine then that would serve as enough proof to bring a claim.
