HPV vaccine: Probe panel submits final report

The Indian Express had first reported that the interim report found the deaths were “probably unrelated to the vaccine”.

“There was no major ethical violation in the conduct of the study,” says the interim report of the committee probing the “alleged irregularities in the conduct of studies using HPV vaccine by PATH in India,” it had said.

According to sources,there are no major changes seen in the final report. The interim report was submitted to the Union Health Ministry in December last year. The NGO PATH had been carrying out trials of the HPV vaccine in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat in collaboration with the state governments and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) since 2007.

The study was however suspended after reports of the girls’ deaths. The trials in Andhra were using MSD’s Gardasil; those in Gujarat,GSK’s Cervarix.

Unsatisfied with the findings of the report,CPM leader Brinda Karat,who raised the issue in Parliament after the deaths of the girls,wrote a letter to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Stating that the report can “hardly be considered a credible conclusion”,Karat said exoneration of those responsible will set a dangerous precedent. “Indeed the committee members have not done any credit to their reputations by such an outrageous recommendation,” she said.

The committee was headed by Dr S S Agarwal,and included former Director General of Health Services Dr S P Agarwal and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of AIIMS,Dr Suneeta Mittal.

The inquiry committee was formed after Karat alleged that guidelines were violated and girls from vulnerable sections were exploited in the garb of the trials.