A conservative group claims that Gardasil side affects appear to be getting worse.  According to Judicial Watch, there were 28 deaths following Gardasil injections reported to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), up from 19 deaths in 2007.  In total, there have been  47  deaths reported since 2006 Judicial Watch said.

The group said it obtained Gardasil  side effect report information from the FDA’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).   Of the 47  deaths reported to VAERS since 2006,  Judicial Watch said 41 occurred within a month of receiving the vaccine, and of those 17 were within two weeks of receiving the vaccine. In most of the deaths the cause is still unknown.

According to the group,  the FDA documented 6,723 “adverse events” related to Gardasil in 2008, of which 1,061 were considered “serious,” and 142 considered “life threatening.”  Since last June, 235 cases detailed permanent disability. There were also 29 new cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and 147 cases of “spontaneous abortions,” or miscarriages, when the vaccine was given to pregnant women, Judicial Watch said.

Judicial Watch also documented 62 cases of Gardasil recipients who developed warts after receiving the vaccine.  In additional to reports of genital warts, there were 21 reports of girls developing warts on other areas of the body, including face, hands and feet, and in one case, “all over her body.”

Gardasil is a vaccination that  prevents some forms of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that cause  cervical cancer.  Gardasil has been controversial because of attempts by Merck & Co. to make it mandatory, and because of continuing questions about its safety.