HPV vaccine has no serious adverse effects

A large-scale study in Sweden and Denmark has established that the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine does not carry a risk of serious adverse reactions.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute analysed patient data on nearly one million girls born between 1998 and 2000 in the two countries. Around 300,000 of these were vaccinated against HPV between the ages of ten and 17, whereas the remainder were not vaccinated at all.

They then examined rates of incidence for 53 different diagnoses requiring hospital or specialist care, including neurological disorders, autoimmune diseases and blood clots.

It emerged that girls who had been vaccinated against HPV were no more likely to develop these conditions than their counterparts in the control group.

"You could see our study as part of a societal alarm system and as such it did not alert us to any signs that HPV vaccination carries a risk of serious adverse events," commented lead author Lisen Arnheim-Dahlstrom.

Mild adverse reactions, such as temporary fever and swelling at the site of injection, were not studied.