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.
I empathize with your concern. But it only takes one emotional indiscretion at a young age. Teenage hormones are very powerful. Many girls are not tramps, but are not as white as snow like their parents think they are.
So, have you ever tried to opt out of a vaccine with your child? Lots of people say opting out is easy. Not one on this thread who's made that claim has answered that question.
You're deliberately distorting the argument. People aren't opposed to the vaccine, just to it being ordered; especially for a disease that's a result of behavior and can be avoided by that, to a large extent.
I'm certainly not ignoring the outside dangers.
I think the chances of bad side effects from the vaccine would be higher than her getting raped.
I certainly have made it through life without getting raped or cervical cancer.
Yes, I know of two women that have had cervical cancer. They were also extremely sexually active women.
I hope my daughters will not be that way, and I'll keep my eye on them until they are 18.
I know about teenage hormones. I also know that most of my friends waited until college to have sex. Most of them didn't wait until they were married, but they were in college.
I think waiting until they are 16 and then seeing what they are like at 16 to see if we can wait until 18 is wiser than getting the vaccine too soon.
It's just not worth the risk at 12.
If he does, there's a chance the girl might get infected.
If she does, there's a chance the virus may not last in her body.
It it does, there's only a slight chance that it could progress into cervical cancer.
Pap tests are very effective in diagnosing abnormalities early enough to make it very treatable.
So because there's a small chance that something bad might happen to a girl that might result in a miniscule chance of her developing cancer, you think it's perfectly justifiable for a governor to bypass normal legislative process and sign an executive order to require girls to get a vaccine to protect them from something they are not likely to die from anyway. Spoken like a true liberal.
And does the risk that someone might make a bad decision really justify the government stepping in and dictating to people what they are to do and how they are to live their lives? For what? To protect them from themselves? Who's going to protect us from the government? And what if it turns out that there are unforeseen complications that result? What then? Guess who gets to live with THOSE consequences, and it isn't the governor who issued the order.
If your daughter is preparing to become a nun, then you have a point: the HPV vaccine is probably not necessary. Otherwise, she's at significant risk of infection, whether she has 100 sexual partners in her life or only one.
Your turn. Have you ever taken a child to the pediatrician's or doctor's office and tried to *opt out* of a vaccine?
The mandate is a bad idea. Suggesting it, offering it, that's fine. Requiring it. No.
How about we just wait until she is an adult to figure out her own destiny?
She can be sexually active and get the vaccine, she can be a nun and not get the vaccine, but she gets to decide.
Nor is sex the only method that AIDS is transferred by. It is hands down the most common one though, and the method it transfers easiest. Same with HPV.
Suppose your young daughter is raped by the pervert next door or Bill Clinton.
By that same logic you should start her on pills to prevent the onset of HIV tomorrow as well.
15% sounds a lot more realistic just in passing the common sense test. Thanks for checking into this.
It is another salvo in the culture wars like it or not. A better way would be to provide the vaccination free and advertise it to all pediatricians in the state.
Perry is all in this for himself. Just look as his Trans-Texas Highway & his love of illegals. This man is a self-centered crook, which is why I voted for Kinky.
"Texas is turning into Louisiana."
Groan-inspiring.
If Perry had his way, we'd have Louisiana casinos too.
Why is it when a girl has premarital sex she is called a whore but a boy is not? I HATE double standards. If the girls are sluts than the boys are sluts also.
Well, boys shouldn't be such sluts should they? What if a woman is a virgin at marriage but her husband is a slut? She is vulnerable to the virus.
Oh for heaven's sake, a hit piece on Perry for making a decision on public safety. No discussion of the actual science behind the vaccine and whether or not it makes sense, just lots of innuendo and pharmaceutical industry bashing. It's amazing how anything related, even remotely, to sex can get so many people bent out of shape.
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