Wait for report on vaccinated teen' death

Health officials are waiting for the coroner's report into the death of a teenager who received the cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil.

They say no teenage deaths have been linked to the drug.

Jasmine Renata, 18, died in her sleep at her family's Upper Hutt home last September, six months after completing the three-dose vaccination programme.

Rhonda Renata said her daughter's health started to deteriorate after her first Gardasil injection in September 2008.

About 88,500 females have received the vaccine since the programme started in 2008, including 11,212 in Canterbury.

It will be offered to 90,000 young women this year.

Immunisation Advisory Centre head Nikki Turner, of Auckland University, said no international research linked Gardasil to teenage deaths.

There was a potential risk of allergic reaction.

"We can never be 100 per cent safe, but on this we have the best safety data available."

The safety sheet on Gardasil advises that women who do suffer allergic reactions should not receive another dose.

The Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring is watching Gardasil, which has allegedly caused adverse reactions in 236 New Zealand women.

Thirty of the reactions have been defined as serious.

The Health Ministry's chief adviser on population health, John Holmes, said the cause of Renata's death would be investigated.

Officials were waiting for the coroner's report before making a detailed statement.

The ministry and MedSafe were satisfied the benefits of Gardasil outweighed any risks, he said.

Timaru woman Julie Smith, whose website, Offtheradar, calls for the Gardasil programme to be stopped, said the ministry was promoting the vaccine without evidence that it worked.

Parents and teenagers were not being given all the information to make informed decisions, she said.

Women's Health Action Trust policy analyst Christy Parker said young women should look at all the available information on Gardasil before making a decision.

"It's a new vaccine and women need to know how it works," she said.

"We are not anti-vaccine but we are pro-choice."

- © Fairfax NZ News