Is Perry's HPV vaccine stance really outrageous?

Bluegrass Pundit ^ | September 17, 2011 | Bluegrass Pundit

[Askwhy5times]

The short answer is no. The long answer is also no. It is true that trying to implement this vaccine regime by EO was wrong. Perry readily admits that mistake. However, the vaccine is actually a good idea. It is not an assault on innocent 12-year old girls as Michelle Bachmann claimed. It also does not cause retardation as Michelle Bachmann misinformed the American public. The misconception in many people's mind is, since HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, the government is preparing 12 old girls for sexual activity at an early age. That is false. In order for this vaccine to work correctly, it has to be given at that age. The protection they get is a few years down the road. Waiting until the girls are adults and can make their own informed decision will not work. It will be too late for them to take advantage of this potentially lifesaving vaccine. Heather Borden Herve over at Wilton Patch explains:

HPV is also the most common sexually transmitted disease today.

A-ha! Is that what makes this issue hot and—pardon the media parlance pun—sexy? Because somehow when the topic of “innocent little 12 year old girls” gets mixed up with protecting them from a virus that gets transmitted through sexual contact, it suddenly gets to be co-opted by politicians on the basis of protecting moral values—and it gets them airtime.

In full disclosure, I grew up in a household that was comfortable talking about science, medicine and fact. My dad is an OBGYN, so we weren’t afraid of using correct anatomical terminology or talking about human sexuality. It’s formed the basis for the way I approach issues like this one.

The science shows that in order for this vaccine to work it needs to be administered before a person becomes sexually active. According to a statement released by the American Academy of Pediatrics following the media uproar after Bachmann’s comments, they “recommend that girls receive [the] HPV vaccine around age 11 or 12. That’s because this is the age at which the vaccine produces the best immune response in the body, and because it’s important to protect girls well before the onset of sexual activity.”

That recommendation was echoed by the CDC and American Academy of Family Physicians....

"The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record."

A better approach for Gov. Perry would have been to offer the vaccine for free and promote it to parents through a public education program, but hindsight is always 20-20. BTW, the story about Rick Perry sitting at the deathbed of a friend dying of cervical cancer is true. Here name was Heather Burcham.

This isn't just a woman's issue. HPV is also a major risk factor for penile cancer.

[icanhasbailout]

I look at the totality of his ten-year record and I ask myself, what limits on the powers of government, other than the discretion of those who lead it, does Rick Perry believe exist?

I believe the record shows with acts like Gardasil and the TTC that Perry believes government should be able to do anything if an argument can be made that that thing is a good thing to do. And on this I absolutely and wholly disagree with him just as much as I absolutely and wholly disagree with Obama's identical position.

I also know Perry will lie straight out to your face. And that makes anything he claims about his own motives suspect. The best that can be said for that is that perhaps it is a refreshing change to be flat-out lied to than have to dig through a mountain of weasel words to figure it out, as is custom.

[aruanan]

For example, a young woman who's a virgin marries a man who isn't, the man having acqired HPV from another woman, and that man gives the HPV to his innocent bride. The bride would have been a lot better off with the vaccination than without it.

More accurately: For example, a person who doesn't have HPV marries another who does, who then infects the uninfected spouse. The formerly uninfected spouse would have been a lot better off with the vaccination than without it.

[icanhasbailout]

White man’s burden, then?

I am firmly in the camp in not wanting a government which thinks it knows better than me to be dictating decisions which are properly and wholly my personal business.

[RowdyFFC]

These kids are here, most of them all their lives, not because of what WE TEXANS did or didn’t do. Because of what the feds have done. We’ve supported them all their lives already...they’re not going anywhere as they have no country to go to, they only know Texas. Why would you not want them to be able to afford to PAY for their own tuition so they can go to school and get a skillset that will allow them to support themselves in the future, if they are allowed to by some new federal policy, or wish to stay here by getting in line legally like everybody else for citizenship.

You do realize that we don’t know whether we’re going to be able to fend the commiecrats off an Amnesty program forever, right? Should they get put back in power?

Besides, there aren’t enough fence post hole digging or pole barn building jobs, or chicken plucking jobs to support them, in the first place.

Another besides is, are you going to raise your children to be fence post hole diggers, pole barn builders, or chicken pluckers to support those job needs? I’m not a snob, these are honest work for honest pay, but I’m encouraging my kids to aim a LITTLE higher than that at least. Actually since I’ve retired, I’ve done all three of those jobs, except for myself on my own farm. But for my life’s career and to plan for retirement...I knew I had to have a better plan.

I’m like you, I don’t want this invasion of my homeland, but quite frankly, we’re a little LATE in objecting! Pedro and Juanita are here along with Poblito and Pequena, as well as abuela and abuelo, and we’re in a mell of a hess. Unless we go totally Commando and start shooting or rounding up and marching them south. Frankly I like the Commando method...but are you going to go along with me? Or is the cruelty of the whole thing going to give you second thoughts when you start seeing toddlers and grandma’s on the march south.

[beandog]

How about if we leave it up to the “innocent bride” to decide, as an adult, if she feels she needs it before she gets married. If she feels she’s marrying a man, who unlike, herself, is not a virgin than she needs to take the responsibility to protect herself.

[muawiyah]

Michelle didn't hurt herself. Your average voter has little understanding of HPV or Gardasil and could care less.

I think they did tune in on this grinning politician casting his eyes on the 12 year old girls though.

Now that's the image problem his supporters really ought to deal with ~ it's the sort of thing that can move elections.

[CA Conservative]

Here is what's different about the HPV vaccine. Diseases like HPV, HIV, and hepatitis are behaviorally obtained.

So why didn't Michele or Sarah do anything about the mandatory vaccinations required by each of their states for Hep-B when they were in state government? Hep-B is behaviorally obtained, primarily through sex and IV drug use, yet both Alaska and Minnesota mandate these vaccinations for infants and toddlers. If they are so adamantly against forcing vaccinations for sexually transmitted diseases, why didn't they say anything about that when they could have affected that situation.

For them to ignore that vaccination mandate and focus on this one smacks of crass political posturing, not true concern based on conservative principles.

When my son was freshly born, the hospital wanted to give him a vaccination for Hepatitis B. It required a strong stand on my part to dissuade them from doing it. But in the end, I found out I still had a free choice. When the state requires that vaccines be received, that choice no longer exists.

In other words, it was a mandatory vaccine with an opt-out, although apparently a more difficult opt-out to exercise than the Texas one. It was actually easier for parents to choose not to vaccinate their daughters against HPV than it was for you to choose not to vaccinate your child against Hep-B.

[commonguymd]

Was wrong then, and still wrong now. Not fond of mental gymnastics for the apology crowd so that we become mere cheerleaders.

[muawiyah]

Gardasil is going to be one of the major economic winners of our time ~ it does hold out the promise of eliminating 70% of all cervical cancers, and that's a cancer you simply don't want to have.

I think if Merck made any mistake here it was in underestimating what it would take to build up the market ~

[Askwhy5times]

Gardasil is a series of three shots that are given over a period of months (8 mo. is the recommended period). Full protection isn’t achieved until the entire series has been given. It isn’t a last minute decision. That is why it should be given before sexual activity begins. The claim it wears off in 5 years is unfounded. Gardasil only has studies for 5 years of protection. It is not yet known how long the vaccine offers protection. The vaccine may protect for life or require a booster shot.

[muawiyah]

Underestimate ~ to estimate too little ~ like thinking a few thou here and there would get the politicians to immediately act to impose the use on the people (worldwide).

No, it took some TV advertising as well, and some full page ads showing fuzzy bunnies and unicorns in the most read young women's magazines.

Merck's efforts delayed full market penetration by a year or more.

[muawiyah]

Somebody should read the WHO sponsored study on HPV. Turns out not all the vectors are known, but for the major HPV virus varieties SEX is the major, but not exclusive, vector. They simply haven’t studied all the different HPV variants yet ~ but they will get “a round to it” I am sure http://www.zazzle.com/a_round_tuit_magnet-147352616101335538

[CA Conservative]

Telemedicine and bi-national insurance are two different issues. And actually, both are very god ideas. Telemedicine uses technology to deliver medical care to people with limited access to clinical resources. Bi-national insurance would allow insurance companies to sell insurance to people on both sides of the border. That would help reduce the amount of cost to the taxpayers of Texas, since Mexicans using US medical facilities could still have insurance coverage, rather than have the taxpayer pick up the tab.

So, finding more economical ways to provide health care and finding ways for health care to be paid by the private sector - gee, those sound like pretty conservative ideas to me!

[muawiyah]

Texas could provide FULLY PAID scholarships to perfectly good colleges and universities in Mexico for each and every one of the illegal aliens they want to give discounted in-state tuition.

That would include room, board, tuition, books and probably a stolen car FUR SHUR.

[brothers4thID]

Read more about HPV transmission please. The “behaviors” needed to obtain HPV are not all sexual.

[Logical me]

The outrageous parts are the unlicensed practice of medicine by government officials, and the corruption regarding staff relationships to the manufacturer and contributions to campaigns.

Shall we outlaw all preventive vaccines?

[libstripper]

Opt out gave her parents that option. By requiring vaccinations for disesaes like polio and smallpox we’ve just about eliminated both diseases.

[icanhasbailout]

The question is not the effectiveness of the vaccine.

The question is whether the state has the right to step in front of the parents to make what is properly a parental decision for the child.

This is government-is-your-parent Big Brother Marxism at its core.

Except in case of a public health emergency that threatens the security of the state itself, all medical decisions for children are the responsibility of the parents.

A government with the resources to put something like this on its action agenda is a government that has too many resources and is either taxing too much, borrowing too much, or both.

[icanhasbailout]

Shall we outlaw all preventive vaccines?

Is the only choice available between that which is mandatory and that which is forbidden?

[C. Edmund Wright]

They both got hurt. And if you don’t think so, go ahead and believe it. I like her, but I like her less after the exchange. Many on this and other message boards are of a like mind on that.

And you can’t have it both ways on “average voters” saying on one sentence that they “could care less” and then the next saying they did tune in on the “grinning politician.” Either/or......

And we aren’t talking about “average voters” at this point anyway. We’re talking about engaged conservatives, and I think she did indeed hurt herself among those and I think she did indeed inflict some damage to Perry as well.