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Wisconsin sisters say Gardasil vaccine caused their premature ovarian failure
Wisconsin sisters say Gardasil vaccine caused their premature ovarian failure
Maddie and Olivia Meylor say they have been robbed of their womanhood after receiving a Gardasil vaccine which prevents HPV. The Wisconsin sisters were the first in the United States to claim that the HPV vaccine caused premature ovarian failure. A federal judge on Monday, May 16th ruled against the young women.
Maddie and Olivia Meylor
Maddie and Olivia Meylor were diagnosed with premature ovarian failure in 2007, when they were teenagers. They started menopause decades early.
"We were devastated," said Joen Meylor, the girls' mother. "It's rare at their age and it's very rare that two sisters would have premature ovarian failure."
The sisters went through the same genetic testing, looking for answers. They say all roads led back to that doctor's visit in 2007.
"I realized it was the Gardasil vaccine," said Joen Meylor.
Joen Meylor
The Meylors believe the HPV vaccine is to blame for their rare disorder.
The sisters, who may never be able to have children in the traditional sense, filed a federal claim with the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
"We can carry a child, but we can't create our own," Olivia Meylor said.
A federal judge on May 16th ruled that some of the sisters' symptoms appeared to begin before they were immunized as teenagers, and the case was dismissed.
The judge did not make a ruling as to whether ovarian failure is a legitimate injury from the vaccine.
An attorney for the Meylors said they plan to appeal.
FOX6 News spoke with the sisters in November of 2014, when they were 20 and 21.
Maddie and Olivia Meylor
At that time, we also reached out to Merck, the maker of Gardasil. The company said the vaccine's safety was tested in clinical trials -- and continues to be studied in more than a half-million people.
Merck released this statement:
Merck also released this additional background information to FOX6 News:
While no vaccine or medicine is completely without risk, leading international health organizations throughout the world including the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. CDC, Health Canada, the European Medicines Agency, and the Australia Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), among others, continue to recommend the use of GARDASIL.
The CDC also has a critical perspective on this issue. For more information from the CDC's HPV safety page, CLICK HERE.