A 14-year-old schoolgirl has died after being given a vaccine to protect against cervical cancer as part of the national immunisation programme. Some of her classmates suffered side-effects such as dizziness and nausea.

Natalie Morton, a pupil at Blue Coat Church of England school in Coventry, died yesterday afternoon at the city’s University Hospital hours after receiving Cervarix. The NHS in Coventry said that no link had been made between her death and the HPV jab, but that it had quarantined the batch used at the school as a precaution.

Cervarix guards against certain strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection that causes up to 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases. In the UK, 3,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year and about 1,000 women die from the disease.

More than 1.4 million have been given the jab since the vaccination programme began last year. This is believed to be the first death. By 2011 all girls under 18 will have been offered the vaccine. The public awareness campaign about cervical cancer was boosted by the death of the reality television star Jade Goody, 27.

Health officials said that they had begun an urgent investigation and that the death could not be linked directly to the vaccination until after a post-mortem examination.

Julie Roberts, head of the school, which has 1,350 pupils, said in a letter to parents that the girl had suffered a “rare but extreme reaction to the vaccine”. She added: “A number of other girls also reported being unwell and some were sent home.” She asked parents to be vigilant. It is understood that none of the other girls who reported side effects was admitted to hospital.

Britain is the only country to have picked Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, for a mass public health programme, instead of Gardasil, a more expensive vaccine made by Merck that also protects against strains of HPV that cause genital warts.

The Department of Health said that Cervarix had met rigorous safety and efficacy standards. Gillian Merron, the Public Health Minister, said: “Our deepest sympathies are with the family. It is important we have the results of further investigations as soon as possible.”

Dr Caron Grainger, joint director of public health for NHS Coventry, told The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4that a post-mortem examination would be carried out within days and that the immunisation programme would continue after a “short pause” to brief staff.

Professor Malcolm McCrae, from the University of Warwick’s Department of Biological Sciences, said that it was a well-tested vaccine and that it was unwise to speculate about a cause of death until test results were known. “People will be concerned when they hear of the tragic death of a young girl, but this is a well-tested vaccine,” he said. “As with any medical intervention, vaccines can on occasion see tragic consequences, but overall this is an extremely well-tested vaccine which has been produced in response to a fairly severe health problem.”

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that 4,657 instances of side-effects and adverse reactions had been reported in relation to Cervarix. These included cases of allergic reactions, dizziness and nausea, but officials said that the vaccine was considered to have a good safety profile and had not been associated with severe side-effects not listed in the product information.

Pim Kon, the medical director of GlaxoSmithKline UK, said: “Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of the young girl. We are working with the Department of Health and MHRA to better understand this case. The batch of vaccine involved has been quarantined until the situation is fully understood.”

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, expressed his condolences. He said: “This again raises the question as to why the Government won’t publish the assessments it made of the relative merits of the two HPV vaccines and why we use a different vaccine to most other comparable countries.”

Last October another girl suffered a mystery illness that came on 30 minutes after she was given the jab and resulted in paralysis from the waist down. Ashleigh Cave, a pupil at Maricourt Catholic High School in Liverpool, was said to have suffered dizziness and headaches before collapsing several times over the following days. A week later she was admitted to Alder Hey hospital after losing all strength in her legs.

She is now 13 and has spent almost all of the past 12 months in hospital.

Her mother, Cheryl Cave, said: “I have been trying for a year to get the NHS to admit there is a serious problem with these injections, but they are just in denial. I look at Ashleigh every day and I feel guilty because I signed the consent form. Every mother should think long and hard before they put their daughter at risk.”

GlaxoSmithKline said that the MHRA had suggested that Ashleigh’s illness was not linked to the vaccine.

Friends of Natalie paid tribute to her last night. Charmaine Dunn-Myria, 15, a fellow pupil at Blue Coat, said: “There were girls crying in the corridors. No one could believe what has happened. I had the jab myself today. I never knew you could get sick from it or even die.”

A school friend wrote on the social networking site Facebook: “You were such a great friend, beautiful person and always so smiley! We really are all going to miss you all!” Another, Nicola Watson, wrote: “You are in gods arms now and hes holding you tightly — everyone is praying for you. we all love you so much! you’re going to be in all are hearts!”

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6852858.ece