But Taquaria's mother says everything changed last December after her daughter received Gardasil, a vaccine that prevents 70 percent of cervical cancer.

"She's never been sick. She's never been in the hospital, nothing, until the Gardasil shot," said Taquaria's mother, Matia White.

Two months after getting the shot, Taquaria says she got a rash on her face and arms, leaving these scars. She had swelling all over, pain in her joints and poor circulation in her fingertips.

Her doctor told us she now suffers from an autoimmune disease and she says it is possible the Gardasil triggered her illness, although she made it clear the cause cannot be proven.

According to a federal tracking system called "VAERS," there have been 9,749 adverse reactions following the vaccination and 21 reported deaths since 2006.

But Gardasil manufacturer Merck points out these are anecdotal cases. In a statement, company officials say it '...does not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused or contributed to the event."

An official with the Centers for Disease Control says VAERS does not provide enough information for researchers to prove whether Gardasil caused any of the reported side effects, and that the majority of the eight million girls who have gotten the vaccine have had no problems.

"We want to have better data to reassure people, but again, the patterns and number of serious events looked at in VAERS do not suggest any increase in risk," Acting Immunization Safety Director Dr. John Iskander said.

While the CDC believes Gardasil is safe, a conservative watchdog group called Judicial Watch, which has been studying Gardasil safety, says parental' concerns about the vaccine are valid.

"Without long-term studies and a safety test, essentially the public is being used as a large scale public health test," said Chris Farrell from Judicial Watch.

Reporter: What would have happened if you would have known that this research was out there?

"I would have never got it, never. I would have never had her get the shot," White said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us it's working on a comprehensive study that will determine whether there is a pattern that links Gardasil to some of these serious side effects.

That study is expected to be released in October.

In the meantime, both the CDC and Merck encourage women to continue to get regular pap smears, even if they've gotten the Gardasil shot.