Georgetown: Having amplified their concerns at a picketing exercise on the lawn of the Ministry of Health last week about the recently introduced Gardasil vaccine, which is intended to help combat the fight against cervical cancer, some of the picketers have taken their concerns a step further.
The picketers, who have described themselves as a ‘group of concerned women’ on Wednesday took a signed petition to the Ministry of Health again highlighting their concerns to the Minister of Health. Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, was not on hand to accept the correspondent but his secretary was made to sign for the petition which took on the form of a letter to the Minister signed by a number of the women who make up the concerned group including Ms. Charlene Wilkinson, Ms. Penda Guyan and Ms. Devonne Primo. It was carbon copied to three newspapers, an online publication, an attorney-at-law, the Minister of Education and two opposition political parties.
Seeking to represent parents and families concerned about the physical health of their young daughters who are students between the ages of 11 and 13, the petition states that “we hereby request further and detailed information about the Ministry’s decision to inoculate these children against the HPV in a vaccination programme purportedly to protect them from cervical cancer and other related diseases they are likely to contract in their adulthood.”
The letter details that “our concerns are that the Ministry has not adequately furnished families with information about the adverse side-effects of Gardasil, side effects that may not manifest until years later, the relevance of the virus in respect of the health of our daughters, and the circumstances under which the virus may be spread.”
As such the group is demanding that until their questions are answered, the vaccination programme should be terminated with immediate effect.
Further, the group is insisting that the Minister and his experts meet on both national and regional television channels, with representatives of parents, who are better prepared than the average parent to ask pertinent questions related to concerns about the immunization programme.
Last week Thursday the group took to the lawn of the Ministry in picketing mode and for the first time voiced their concern in that manner about the vaccine which was the day before launched and administered to girls between the ages of 11 and 13 at the East La Penitence Health Center. The vaccination campaign is slated to continue for the next six months with some 20,000 doses being administered in three batches at both health centers and primary schools to girls in Regions Three, Four, Five and Six.
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