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A class action lawsuit is ongoing and growing against Merck for its HPV vaccine, Gardasil.  The law firm, Miller & Zois, is taking on legal cases in all 50 American states of victims who have suffered harm from the vaccine. They are looking at various types of Gardasil lawsuits, focusing on premature ovarian failure and premature menopause claims.

The MDL class action in the Western District of North Carolina was established in September 2022 with just over 20 cases. The plaintiffs are claiming that the Gardasil HPV vaccine caused them to develop auto-immune and/or neurologic disorders because Merck failed to properly research it before pushing it on the market.

In January, Miller & Zois announced that the number of cases had tripled with 60 active Gardasil lawsuits pending in the Gardasil class action MDL. The lawyers are expecting a large influx of new cases soon as previously filed claims clear the vaccine court process.

The stated purpose of Gardasil is to prevent a sexually transmitted disease which could possibly result in cervical cancer when the children are much older.  But there is no true evidence that the vaccine actually works to prevent cancer, wrote medical researcher Brucha Weisberger. “It is a sham, and simply causes death and misery.”

In a detailed write-up about the lawsuit, Ronald Miller of Miller & Zois summarised the potential harms of the HPV vaccine:

New research has shown that Gardasil can induce and increase the risk of auto-immune diseases, and a host of other serious health complications including Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Neuropathy, and Fibromyalgia. Gardasil has also been linked to premature ovarian failure and infertility.  What is even more unsettling, however, is that there is also evidence to suggest that rather than preventing cervical cancer, the Gardasil HPV vaccine may increase the risk of cervical cancer.

Gardasil HPV Vaccine Lawsuit, Lawsuit Information Centre, Ronald V. Miller Jr., 1 March 2023

Gardasil is a vaccine developed by Merck & Co. to prevent HPV (human papillomavirus), Miller & Zois explained on their website.  Merck obtained approval for Gardasil in 2006 with deceptive research trials, which overstated the benefits and vastly understated the risks and side effects of the vaccine. Merck aggressively marketed Gardasil utilising scare tactics, false advertising, and political lobbyists to induce millions of parents to vaccinate their adolescent girls with Gardasil.

Now thousands of girls who received the Gardasil vaccine are experiencing severe adverse health consequences, and hundreds have died due to vaccine complications.

The following are excerpts from Miller & Zois’ Gardasil Lawsuit webpage.

Approval of the Gardasil Vaccine

Gardasil is a vaccine that is supposed to protect against HPV (human papillomavirus). HPV is a widespread viral infection passed through skin-to-skin contact. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease, and the majority of people will get HPV at some point in their life. Most HPV cases are entirely benign, but if left untreated, a very small percentage of HPV cases in women can eventually develop into cervical cancer.

Merck obtained a fast-track FDA approval for Gardasil in June 2006. At that time, Merck was still reeling from the billion-dollar losses incurred after being forced to pull its drug Vioxx off the market. Within Merck, Gardasil was described as the “holy grail” that would help the company replace the revenues lost from Vioxx. Executives at Merck often said that “HPV” stood for “Help Pay for Vioxx.”

During the fast-track approval process, Merck concealed material facts about Gardasil’s effectiveness, or lack thereof, and safety. Merck failed to perform complete and appropriate medical investigations and studies during the preapproval or post-approval stages.

The clinical trials Merck undertook did not even examine Gardasil’s potential to prevent cancer, rather, the trials only analysed whether Gardasil could prevent potential precursor conditions. Merck then submitted misleading data suggesting that these “precursor conditions” inexorably result in cancer.

Merck’s Deceptive Marketing Campaign to Push Gardasil

Both before and after the approval of Gardasil, Merck engaged in unscrupulous marketing tactics designed to overemphasise both the risks associated with HPV and the purported efficacy of Gardasil to scare the public into agreeing to mass vaccinations of the Gardasil vaccine.

Before Gardasil, there was no HPV public health emergency in the US and few women had even heard of HPV so there was little or no demand for an HPV vaccine. To ensure the financial success of its new “holy grail,” Merck preceded its rollout of Gardasil with years of expensive HPV “disease awareness” marketing.

Once Gardasil was approved for pre-teen girls, Merck launched an aggressive propaganda campaign aimed at scaring and guilting parents who did not inoculate their daughters with Gardasil. Merck’s campaign implied that “good parents” vaccinate their children with Gardasil.

During these aggressive marketing efforts, Merck fraudulently concealed the known risks and dangers of the HPV vaccine while exaggerating its efficacy. Merck marketed Gardasil with the most aggressive campaign ever mounted to promote a vaccine, spending more on Gardasil advertising than any previous vaccine advertising campaign.

Merck’s Political Lobbying to Make Gardasil Mandatory

In addition to its aggressive advertising campaign, Merck also used political lobbyists and financial incentives to get state legislatures to make the Gardasil vaccine mandatory for all school children. Starting in 2004, Merck pumped millions into political lobbying organisations such as Women in Government and NACCHO. These organisations then started aggressively pushing legislators around the country to mandate Gardasil vaccines for all 6th-grade girls.

Merck supplemented these paid lobbyists with contributions to political campaigns and millions in direct funding to state health departments. Between 2012 and 2018, Merck directly funnelled $92 million to the Maryland Department of Health for the promotion of Gardasil vaccines in public schools. This funding essentially paid school officials to deceive students and parents into believing that Gardasil vaccination was mandatory.

Merck Misrepresented the Efficacy of Gardasil

To convince regulators and public health officials to accept Gardasil, Gardasil lawsuits allege Merck misrepresented the efficacy of the vaccine by falsely advertising that Gardasil prevents cervical cancer. No credible studies demonstrate that Gardasil prevents cervical cancer.

Merck did not want to invest the time or money necessary to perform testing that would prove its vaccine prevented cervical cancer. Instead, Merck persuaded regulators to allow it to use “surrogate endpoints” to support its theory that the HPV vaccines would be effective in preventing cervical cancer. The use of these surrogate endpoints allowed Merck to shorten the clinical trials to a few years and gain regulatory approvals for the vaccines without any evidence the vaccines would prevent cancer in the long run.

In January 2020, a study from the UK raised significant doubts about whether the Gardasil vaccine prevented cervical cancer as claimed by Merck. The study highlights the fact that Gardasil has never been proven to prevent cervical cancer (or any other type of cancer).

Gardasil May INCREASE the Risk of Cervical Cancer

Contrary to Merck’s representations, Gardasil may increase the risk of cervical and other cancers, not prevent them. Several studies – including one from the CDC which has still stood by the vaccine so far – have found that by suppressing certain HPV strains, Gardasil vaccines may promote mutagenetic changes in the virus that can lead to cancer.

Public health data seems to support the conclusion that Gardasil may be increasing the rate of cervical cancer. After the introduction of the HPV Vaccine in Britain, cervical cancer rates among young women aged 25 to 29 increased by 54%.

In Australia, 13 years after Gardasil was released and pushed upon teenagers, there has been a 16% increase in women 25-29 and a 30% increase for women 30-34. Meanwhile, rates are decreasing for older women (who have not been vaccinated).

In other words, Gardasil may increase the risk of cancer. This will be the crux of the claim for some victims who file a Gardasil vaccine lawsuit. But there is still some research to be done on this issue.

For most women bringing long-term side effects or autoimmune disorders Gardasil lawsuits, the focus will not be on whether Gardasil helps prevent cervical cancer. The focus will be on the other side effect that Gardasil may cause that people, mostly girls, did not expect when they took the HPV vaccine.

Gardasil HPV Side Effects Long-Term and Autoimmune Disorders

Recent scientific research has found that Gardasil induces and increases the risk of many long-term side effects related to autoimmune disorders. Specifically, Gardasil has been linked to the following autoimmune diseases:

• Guillain–Barré syndrome
• postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
• chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy
• multiple sclerosis

Gardasil has also been linked to a myriad of long-term side effects associated with induced-autoimmune diseases, including such dangers as fibromyalgia, dysautonomia, premature ovarian failure, chronic fatigue syndrome, and chronic regional pain syndrome. migraines, severe headaches, persistent gastrointestinal discomfort, widespread pain of a neuropathic character, encephalitis syndrome, autonomic dysfunction, joint pain, and brain fog.

A variety of published medical journal articles have discussed the association between Gardasil and a myriad of serious injuries and have reported on patients developing POTS, OI, fibromyalgia, and other symptoms of autonomic impairment years later following Gardasil vaccination. 

Gardasil Linked to Premature Ovarian Failure

One of the most serious adverse side effects that can be caused by the Gardasil HPV vaccine is premature ovarian failure. Premature ovarian failure, also called primary ovarian insufficiency, occurs when the ovaries stop working and no longer produce eggs before age 40 and before menopause.

Premature ovarian failure is associated with abnormal production of the hormone oestrogen in the ovaries.  Premature ovarian failure is a serious condition because it can cause infertility.  There are many factors that can result in premature ovarian failure such as autoimmune failure, X chromosomal abnormalities, idiopathic causes, toxins, and, of course, removal of the ovaries.

Several recent medical studies have found that premature ovarian failure can be triggered by an autoimmune reaction to the Gardasil HPV vaccine. This occurs when the body’s immune system generates antibodies that attack the tissue in the ovaries which hold the eggs.

The first significant study linking premature ovarian failure to the Gardasil vaccine was published in 2020 and identified a disproportionate number of adverse vaccine event reports involving premature ovarian failure and premature menopause. A follow-up study was published in March 2022  in Drugs Real World Outcomes. This study also concluded that there was a potential association between premature ovarian failure and the HPV vaccine.

• Case study on the link between premature ovarian failure and the HPV vaccine