Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many complaints his Department received in relation to vaccination against human papilloma virus in each month of 2016.
Answered on
17 October 2016
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) collects reports of suspected side effects to vaccines and medicines via the Yellow Card Scheme. It is important to note that a report of a suspected side effect does not necessarily mean the vaccine or medicine was the cause of the reported event, and coincidental illness can also be a factor. Such reports remain under continual review by the MHRA in order to detect possible new risks.
The MHRA has received 198 United Kingdom spontaneous suspected adverse reaction reports temporally-associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine between 1 January 2016 and 9 October 2016. Table 1 below provides a breakdown of these reports by month.
Month | Number of reports |
January | 16 |
February | 22 |
March | 24 |
April | 23 |
May | 33 |
June | 26 |
July | 15 |
August | 7 |
September | 32 |
October to date (9 October 2016) | 0 |
More than 9 million doses of HPV vaccine have been given in the UK, with close to 90% of eligible teenagers vaccinated. As with all vaccines, safety remains under continual review, and HPV vaccine has a very good safety record.