Thursday, October 01, 2009

Cervical cancer vaccine

The story about the young girl who died following the cervical cancer vaccine hit very close to home. Our daughter received her first dose of this vaccine at the end of last week and was very nervous about it. When the news of the tragedy in Coventry broke, we, and I suspect thousands of parents up and down the land were understandably nervous.

We now know that the girl had a serious underlying condition that appears to have been the cause of her death, and it was not due to the vaccine. A tragedy nonetheless.

On vaccines in general, my wife's a nurse, and I was once. We understand better than many that there's a risk in any procedure, however small, but you have to be informed and weigh the balance up. There was a big hoo-hah about the MMR vaccine when our kids were smaller, but we both felt it was better for them to have it than not.

Life's a risk. You have to weigh the balance and make your choice. If we were too worried we'd never get up in the morning, or cross a road.

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