The MHRA has found no evidence that the Cervarix HPV vaccine causes chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), it announced yesterday (September 26)

The medicines watchdog carried out analysis of data from the government's HPV vaccination programme in response to reports that some of the 2 million 12 to 18-year-olds who took part between 2008 and 2012 suffered from CFS after receiving the GSK-manufactured vaccine.

The study results should provide "further reassurance" about the safety of the HPV vaccine, co-author Philip Bryan said	More on vaccinations Update: Promoting children's wellbeing Outrage as pharmacies get less than practice nurses to deliver flu vaccines Nice guidance on hepatitis B is opportunity to offer services, pharmacists say
	Scientists studied patient record data from the Clinical Practice Research Database to compare the frequency of fatigue syndromes in young women before and after the vaccination programme started in 2008, as well as the risks following vaccination compared to other time periods.

Dr Philip Bryan, co-author of the study published online on September 1 in the journal Vaccine, said yesterday that he hoped the findings would provide "further reassurance" about the safety of the HPV vaccine.

Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust chief executive Robert Music said that, as with all vaccines, there were possible side effects to consider. "But these research findings by the MHRA are very positive and we encourage all those who are eligible to take up the vaccine," he added.

More than 6 million doses of the Cervarix vaccine were given during the 2008-12 programme, the MHRA reported in December last year.

The MHRA received reports of 14,300 suspected adverse reactions for Cervarix during the four-year programme, it reported at that time. It received 14 reports of CFS between 2008 and 2012, it said. Cervarix was replaced in the vaccination programme by Sanofi Pasteur's Gardasil last year for "commercial reasons", the Department of Health said.

GSK told C+D it remained confident of the safety and efficacy of Cervarix.  

Community pharmacies, including Boots, Lloydspharmacy and the Co-operative Pharmacy branches offer the HPV vaccine in a course of three injections for around £300.