Healthy 12 Year Old Girl Paralyzed Days After Receiving HPV Vaccine
Mia was given the routine jab - which protects against the human papilloma virus, at her school in September. The HPV vaccine, Gardasil, is routinely offered to 12-13 year-old girls as part of the NHS' cervical cancer programme. The next day her legs felt heavy, she had a burning sensation in her spine and her feet were shaky. Becoming worried, her mother immediately rushed her to A&E at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. The straight A student went on to lose all sensation in her legs, core body and arms. Unable to do anything except blink and talk, she is now being home-schooled and having singing lessons from her bed. She's bedbound apart from when she is carried or placed in a fully-supported wheelchair and is currently undergoing physio. In addition to the paralysis she is incontinent, cannot keep food down and suffers involuntary spasms.