The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday urged the government to launch an investigation into potential risks of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which the foundation said have led to several cases of severe side effects and even death overseas.
“The Health Promotion Administration and some local governments offer free HPV vaccines to female junior-high school students, but a large number of side effects following HPV vaccinations have been reported in the US, Japan and the UK, which have had 8,000, 1,926 and 1,340 cases respectively,” the foundation said.
It said that Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy recommends that teenage girls get vaccinated when they are 13 to achieve maximum protection, and it predicts that the efficacy of the three-dose regime — which costs about NT$4,000 per dose — could last for as long as two decades.
However, the foundation cited statistics showing that 1,926 out of 3.42 million Japanese who completed the vaccination since the Japanese government promoted a government-funded HPV vaccination program in December 2012 had suffered from side effects.
“Among them, 101 experienced severe side effects and one died,” the foundation said, adding that the Japanese government has initiated an investigation into the incidents.
In the UK, while most of the HPV vaccine recipients exhibited only mild symptoms following the injections, such as fever, nausea, dizziness and muscle weakness, there are reports that 20 young women experienced blurred vision, four suffered from spasms, one developed facial paralysis and one suffered paralysis on the right side of her body, the foundation said.
US authorities are yet to rule out the HPV vaccination as being responsible for the deaths of 10 young girls, it added.
In response, HPA Cancer Prevention and Control Division Director Wu Chien-yuan (吳建遠) said hospitals and clinics have been instructed to inform vaccine recipients of all the potential side effects from the HPV vaccine, adding that only 100 of the more-than 16,000 Taiwanese who have been vaccinated so far had reported side effects.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS