There is no place to defend this stance..even Perry admitted as much. But you can bet there will be "conservative" nanny staters all over this thread.
I refused to have my daughters administered this med. Just this summer the health department offered it to my youngest again as an option. The nurse said they are giving it to boys too. Maybe it is safe and will be a great thing but what if the side effects are not known for years. STDs are nasty, cancer is nasty but something about this bothers me and so I opted out.
I like Perry even so but he has three things that will be used against him: this Gardisil issue, illegal immigrant tuition, and the imminent domain problem he ran into with the trans-Texas corridor. I have to say he has been leading strong on these issues whether you like them or not.
Here is the bottom line, Earthdweller:
Not one person in Texas was immunized with Gardasil. It was stopped before it went into effect.
Not one person.
Not one “little girl” was put at risk by anything at any time by this unimplemented plan.
I think the only admission or concession Perry has made is that enacting this sort of this should be done by a legislature, not via executive order.
Best I can see, he believes the health benefits direct that government mandate of the HPV vaccine is desirable.
This issue has two parts: the vaccination mandate and the safety of the vaccine.
Conservatives can certainly question Perry's judgement about mandating the vaccinations. But Bachmann and her supporters look like fools for calling into question the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.