Hackney councillor slammed for saying HPV vaccine is ‘21st century Thalidomide’
Cllr Harvey Odze. - Credit: Gary Manhine
A Tory councillor was accused of “spouting nonsense” last night after he claimed the HPV vaccine was the “21st century’s Thalidomide”.
Cllr Harvey Odze was responding to a question from Labour’s Cllr Jessica Webb (Hackney Wick) about the possibility of extending the vaccination to boys.
After health chief Cllr Jonathan McShane responded saying reviews on the programme were carried out regularly, Cllr Odze (Springfield) left almost everyone gobsmacked with his take.
“Given the considerable body of medical evidence that HPV does not cause cervical cancer, and that the vaccine is on its way to becoming the 21st century’s Thalidomide, can you assure me all parents are given full information about the dangers of the vaccine?”
Thalidomide was used in the late 1950s and early 1960s to tackle morning sickness, but led to children being born without limbs.
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Cllr McShane called his suggestion “incredibly unhelpful” and accused him of “spouting nonsense”, saying the vaccine was scientifically sound.
The Gardasil vaccine has proven to be 99 per cent effective against four of the worst strands of the virus.
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The Health and Social Executive has repeatedly said there is no credible research linking Gardasil to chronic negative side effects.
Cllr Odze’s claims followed his pro-Trump rant at a meeting in October, when he also declared global warming was a “Chinese hoax” and said there was no such thing as human-influenced climate change.
