Cervarix not to blame for UK post-vaccination death

The death of a 14-year-old girl who died shortly after having received a cervical cancer vaccine was caused by an unrelated tumour, an autopsy has concluded.

A pathologist has confirmed that the Natalie Morton's died from a malignant tumour of the chest, and was not caused by GlaxoSmithKline's vaccine Cervarix.

Natalie died just hours after receiving the injection at her school in Coventry, raising fears that the injection may have been responsible.

The pathologist said Natalie had been suffering from an undiagnosed malignant tumour of the chest, which had affected both her heart and lungs. It was judged to be so advanced that death could have occurred at any point.

The UK's national immunisation programme was launched in 2008 to immunise all schoolgirls aged 12 and 13 against the two strains of human papilloma virus (HPV) that most commonly cause cervical cancer.

More than 1.4 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the UK to date, with 4,657 suspected reactions reported so far, most of them minor.

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