Posted on 02/02/2007 1:28:44 PM PST by YCTHouston
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry ordered today that schoolgirls in Texas must be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, making Texas the first state to require the shots.
The girls will have to get Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.
Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass laws in state legislatures across the country mandating it Gardasil vaccine for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.
Details of the order were not immediately available, but the governor's office confirmed to The Associated Press that he was signing the order and he would comment Friday afternoon.
Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, his former chief of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.
Toomey was expected to be able to woo conservative legislators concerned about the requirement stepping on parent's rights and about signaling tacit approval of sexual activity to young girls. Delisi, as head of the House public health committee, which likely would have considered legislation filed by a Democratic member, also would have helped ease conservative opposition.
Perry also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.
It wasn't immediately clear how long the order would last and whether the legislation was still necessary. However it could have been difficult to muster support from lawmakers who champion abstinence education and parents' rights.
Perry, a conservative Christian who opposes abortion rights and stem-cell research using embryonic cells, counts on the religious right for his political base.
But he has said the cervical cancer vaccine is no different than the one that protects children against polio.
"If there are diseases in our society that are going to cost us large amounts of money, it just makes good economic sense, not to mention the health and well being of these individuals to have those vaccines available," he said.
Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit stating that he or she objected to the vaccine for religious or philosophical reasons.
Even with such provisions, however, conservative groups say mandates take away parents' rights to be the primary medical decision maker for their children.
The federal government approved Gardasil in June, and a government advisory panel has recommended that all girls get the shots at 11 and 12, before they are likely to be sexually active.
The New Jersey-based drug company could generate billions in sales if Gardasil — at $360 for the three-shot regimen — were made mandatory across the country. Most insurance companies now cover the vaccine, which has been shown to have no serious side effects.
Merck spokeswoman Janet Skidmore would not say how much the company is spending on lobbyists or how much it has donated to Women in Government. Susan Crosby, the group's president, also declined to specify how much the drug company gave.
A top official from Merck's vaccine division sits on Women in Government's business council, and many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women in Government.
nice try.
busy·body noun, plural -bodies.
a person who pries into or meddles in the affairs of others.
[Origin: 1520–30; busy + body]
—Synonyms snoop, pry, meddler, Nosy Parker; gossip, blabbermouth.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
busybody
n. pl. bus·y·bod·ies
A person who meddles or pries into the affairs of others.
American Heritage Dictionary
Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
busybody noun
a person who meddles in the affairs of others
WordNet® 2.1, © 2005 Princeton University
I can always move to the backwoods of Mississippi, or Louisiana. Sure, they lag way behind the state of Texas, but if I don't have to give up my parental rights (given to me by GOD), then that's a fair trade.
It's not "most effective" then. According to Merck's research, it can be administered any time between ages 9 and 26 and have the same efficacy.
Bingo. So why not wait until 18 and let her make her own choice as to whether she thinks she needs it?
No. A voluntary program would be strictly opt-in. In Perry's scheme it automatically assumed that the parents will comply. It is the burden of the parent to REQUEST PERMISSION from the state to be labelled a "conscientious objector" to the pill. In order to do that you have to fill out a legal affadavit.
HOME SCHOOL REASON #...
That list just keeps getting longer.
Thanks for your thoughtful discussion of the subject.
>>>This is not about public health.<<<
BINGO! It is about the state telling parents how they must raise their children.
Lol...I will pass that thought on to some homeschooling friends.
I am sorry about your daughter, but mass mandated vaccinations of eleven-year-old girls is not going to eliminate cervical cancers.
That's the simple truth.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could go back to the sexual standards of the forties and fifties, where virgin marrying virgin was the rule rather than the exception?
The fact that Merck manufactured Vioxx, or if they scarifice puppies on an altar to Satan, has nothing to do with the errors pointed out in your post.
I disagree. I'm against mandated chicken pox vaccines as well. This is a treatment that is being over used. Again read on autism. Read on therasol and read why in 1970 we were only giving 6 shots and now we are up to 26...
Its all about money. We aren't talking measles mumps small pox that kill. We are talking about something that is preventable and treatable if your are responsible and go for your annual screenings. It is not worth injecting 10 year olds without adequate testing and finding out 20 years from now we have a whole genration of problems.
There is much presidence for what i am saying. Only now the problems nexium cause are coming out. Only now is problems vioxx is coming out. Liptor and dementia.. and on and on it goes. But you don't do this to a 10 year old.
Someone mentioned thelidomide. What happens when these mandated children start having children with birth defects. What is gov zoolander going to do then.
Lastly back to autism for just a second, thersol has been used since the 1930s and is high in mercury. you have increased the expose from 6 to 26 doses and are now seeing the effects of the problem ... These #s don't lie. So any 'new' shot with no track record is concerning to me. For the gov of a state to advocate its citizens recieve a shot in this manner shows that gov is not for the people of his state and needs to be recalled. If it was such a great idea why not put it before the legistature. Why do by EO. Why, because he knew if he did it would have never passed. Period.
my cervical cancer was never detected by pap smears. I was finally diagnosed when I was 4 mos. pregnant. The pap smears were never conclusive, and I couldn't have any samples taken until I was 8 mos. pregnant due to the risk to my baby. It was to late by then, it was very advanced. My baby is fine, me, not so much. But if my obgyn hadn't been very old and very experienced, she wouldn't have realized anything was amiss.
No, it'll just eliminate 90% of cervical cancers. That's good enough for me.
This has nothing to do with children and everything to do with adults. How you raise your daughter has no impact whatsoever on whether her husband, on her wedding day, infects her with HPV.
You weren't alive back then, where you? Or, if you were, you lived amongst a very different group of people.
Really? So I take it you're morally opposed to mandatory use of the polio vaccine in affected areas? What are you, an employee of the iron lung industry?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.