Surb Astvatsamayr Hospital Denies Claims of Minor Girl Going Blind After Gardasil Vaccination

Surb Astvatsamayr Hospital has denied claims that a minor girl has gone blind following Gardasil vaccination. The medical center released a statement addressing the false information circulating on social media and various news outlets.

“Yesterday, information with the heading ‘A minor girl has gone blind in Yerevan after Gardasil vaccination’ was actively disseminated, which is entirely disinformation, lacks any medical justification, and there is #NoBlindness in the adolescent,” the statement said.

The girl, born in 2003, was hospitalized at Surb Astvatsamayr Medical Center on September 14 of this year with a preliminary diagnosis of “neuritis of the optic nerve.” To clarify the diagnosis, a series of laboratory and instrumental studies were conducted, including 3T MRI research, as well as consultations with specialists at the leading ophthalmology clinic, which ruled out “neuritis of the optic nerve” as a diagnosis for the child.

An ophthalmologist identified a vision acuity issue that is not of neurological origin and has no causal relationship with the vaccination. Today, the girl has undergone another examination by an ophthalmologist. The child was diagnosed with mild farsightedness and prescribed glasses, which allow for vision equal to 1.0 (100 percent).

A narrow examination of the fundus was also performed, which revealed no pathological deviations. The child was discharged from the hospital in satisfactory condition.

Once again, we emphasize that the complaints that arose in the child have no connection with the Gardasil vaccination,” the hospital’s statement concluded.