Japanese women who claim to be suffering side effects from cervical cancer vaccines are suing their government, which until recently recommended those vaccines.  But doctors and researchers deny any causal link to the vaccines, which they maintain save lives.

The vaccines Cervarix and Garsil protect women against two strains of human papillomavirus that cause at least 70 percent of cervical cancers.  Health officials in Japan and around the world agree they are safe and effective.  But in 2013, the Japanese government stopped recommending them after a handful of young women reported side effects including regional pain and paralysis.

"I'd like to know why I was left scarred by the vaccine, why I was not able to receive proper treatment right away and why my situation was not adequately conveyed to the state," said 21-year old Nanami Sakai, who says she must use a wheelchair since receiving the vaccine four years ago.

"Many victims are still suffering from side effects of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines Cervarix and Gardsil, which include overall pain and disorders of perception, movement and memory," said lawyer Masumi Minaguchi, who represents Ms. Sakai and eleven other women.  She plans to file the suit sometime after June against the central government, GlaxoSmithKlein PLC, the maker of Cervarix, and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., the maker of Gardsil.

After the government stopped recommending Cervarix and Gardsil, Japan's HPV vaccination rate dropped to zero - helped along by conspiracy theorists spreading baseless fear in videos and social media.  That vexed the the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG), which is urging the government to start recommending the vaccination again.  JSOG chairman Tomoyuki Fujii worries that "young generations will be deprived of the benefits of vaccines for cancer prevention", and that "Japan will become the only country continuing to show a marked increase of cervical cancer in the future".

Maybe not the only country:  Concerns over these HPV vaccines have sprung up around the world, although for inconsistent reasons.  In the United States, the opposition comes from social conservatives who claim that protecting young women from a virus that causes cancer would make them more promiscuous.  The US is struggling to raise its vaccination rate about 40 percent.

In Europe, the HPV vaccination rate is close to 90 percent.  But Danish media reported purported side effects, which prompted the the European Medicines Agency’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee to conduct a review.  The report, published in November, concluded that there was no evidence that the vaccine caused chronic pain syndrome or an abnormal increase in heart rate on sitting or standing up.  And the number of teenage girls experiencing chronic limb pain or dizziness after vaccination was not higher than the general population.

The fact is that vaccines can be scary - especially when administered in large groups of youths, such as in a school setting.  During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, there were 23 episodes of mass psychogenic illness in Taiwan’s school flu-vaccination program.  In 1992 in Iran, people panicked after 10 girls in a class of 26 experienced psychogenic reactions after tetanus shots.