Rationale that sharing the cost to make it more affordable required that it be a "mandatory" vaccine are once again, betrayals of conservative principle. Yes I know there was an opt-out, but what I wonder is (and would like to hear from any FReepers who know first-hand):
1. Was the opt-out difficult and cumbersome with paperwork, a go-out-of-your way process?
2. Was the opt-out such that the parent could opt-out for that particular vaccine and keep the others?
The reason I ask is that I've read anecdotal stuff that indicates that the opt-out protocol was complicated and a hassle, and that you didn't have the choice of ONLY opting out of the HPV vaccine, but it was an all-or-nothing opt-out. Don't know if it's true, and REGARDLESS --
Santorum said it best: that the purpose of mandated vaccines for school-age children is to prevent the immediate spread of certain sicknesses, that one kid getting sick endangered all, and that was the reason for the vaccines. This HPV vaccine is STRICTLY a presumptuous act of a nanny state, especially because a) it isn't to prevent the contagious spread of a disease, but to shield against consequences once the disease is contracted AND b) it addresses a potential health problem that won't even happen until the subject of the vaccine is very near adulthood. The HPV shots are pure nanny statism, an orange compared to the applies of childhood vaccines against measles, polio, etc.
Perry, Merck, the medical establishment, and any other entity, are welcome to encourage parents to use the vaccine for their girls in order to protect them in the future, but to mandate it with an opt-out is a betrayal of limited government conservatism. With the other vaccines, there's at least a little bit of sense and logic to the mandating of polio, whooping cough, mumps, etc. vaccines in school kids. But mandating the HPV shots because it would force the sharing of costs to lower the prices, was pure and simple overstepping of bounds.
1. Was the opt-out difficult and cumbersome with paperwork, a go-out-of-your way process?
2. Was the opt-out such that the parent could opt-out for that particular vaccine and keep the others?
I am a parent living in Texas, with a teenage and younger daughters.
In 2003, Texas changed our opt out such that you could opt out of any single vaccine, or all of them. Also it included the reason to opt out for person conviction, not just medical necessity or religious beliefs.
That was in place at the time of the Executive Order. Perry's EO added the option for the opt to both be requested and submitted by the internet.
Since that time, the Health Department has added additional red tape, requiring it be renewed every 2 years. After the 2003 action, you could do it once and be done for life.
Today you can request the form online, but a notarized completed form is required for the schools to accept it.
More information is available at:
http://vaccineinfo.net/exemptions/index.shtml