Schoolgirl died from tumour not cancer vaccine

The 14 year old schoolgirl who died shortly after being given the Cervarix cervical cancer vaccine, died from a large malignant tumour of the heart and lungs, it has been found.

In a statment issued this morning, Dr Caron Grainger, Joint Director of Public Health for NHS Coventry and council, said: “The pathologist has confirmed today at the opening of the inquest into the death of Natalie Morton that she died from a large malignant tumour of unknown origin in the heart and lungs.

There is no indication that the HPV vaccine, which she had received shortly before her death, was a contributing factor to the death, which could have arisen at any point.”

“We hope that this news will reassure parents that the vaccine is safe and that they should continue to encourage their daughters to be protected against cervical cancer. The HPV vaccination programme will continue as planned in the city from Monday.”

The vaccine offers protection against two Human Papilloma Viruses which are sexually transmitted and cause around 70% of cervical cancer cases in the UK.

Each year an average of 3,000 women develop cervical cancer, and 1,000 die from the disease. The national vaccination programme aims to stop 400 women dying annually.

This article was published on Thu 1 October 2009