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.
As was pointed out in post 721, You cannot remove what you put in the body...
It's an irreversible decision and any damage done is done. It's not something I want inflicted on me or my children.
If you feel this is such a good idea, get it yourself; just don't force it on me.
Hopefully you will learn a lot more about vaccinations by the time your children are "old enough" for this vaccine (for the sake of their future health)... the odds of them having problems from too many vaccinations is higher than the odds of them getting cervical cancer.
This is one reason vets are swamped on a daily basis with sick dogs and cats... autoimmune disease from too many vaccinations. Since animals have a shorter lifespan than humans, it will take longer, but in time we'll see the same significant weakening of the gene pool from vaccines as our pet populations.
Read my post 739 and get back to me as to why you gave it to your child or why it should be on a regular vaccination schedule. Then come back and try to lecture me about how I should watch what goes into my kids' systems and my being incapable of reading and forming my own conclusions. You are preaching to the choir on the government mandating vaccinations. You are also making judgements on my intelligence and/or ability (or lack thereof) to make my decisions without any basis. My comment about my husband and I making our own conclusions after our own research still stands.
How many FReepers gave Prevnar to their kids without looking into it? I doubt it coincides with the number whose children were actually considered at risk for what it was preventing.
http://www.909shot.com/Diseases/HPV/HPVrpt.htm
If you do choose to get it for your daughter, don't do it at the same time as Menactra, you'll see it in the link, but I figured I should stress for anyone who doesn't feel like reading the link, doing so may result in Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can be deadly.
I wouldn't be opposed to this if there had been a long term study, if the test group had consisted of children the same age as the children being ordered to take it now, if they had really explored the benefits of it further (there's no mention if they tracked condom use, which is a big factor, considering condoms can prevent a big chunk of HPV), if it was also mandatory that these kids be tested for the virus beforehand to make sure it doesn't make an existing problem even worse, a few other things too. Those might all be negated in my mind if this was an epidemic, but it isn't. 4,000 women die each year. In perspective, about 36,000 people in America die each year from the flu. Why isn't the government requiring kids to be vaccinated each year with an opt-out for certain things? You don't even have to have sex with someone to catch or pass on the flu, and it's deadlier in terms of numbers. 200,000 flu-related hospitalizations, yet they focus on a vaccine that may keep children from getting a virus that might possibly lead to cervical cancer?
Thanks for the info. The problem with this shot is that from my understanding, the irregular cells (I believe they are the result of HPV) are found during routine pap smears. My sister and two friends had them. They are easily removed from the body. I wonder of the number of women who had this cancer did not receive regular pap smears while they were dating and having multiple partners between their partners. It seems the government (under pressure from the powerful lobbying groups, follow the money, again) is making everyone get the shot because people (women) don't take care of themselves properly. How many women don't get mammograms even though they know how beneficial they are?!
having multiple partners between their partners
should be:
having multiple partners between their exams and pap smears
That's probably the scariest thing I've read all day. Pushing propaganda on children? I guess if they didn't do that, then those children would grow up without being sexual deviants and then they wouldn't have much of a following.
You might not be as far off as you think.
That is also a factor in cervical cancer. I wonder just how that affects the suseptibility to cervical cancer that is thought to be a result of HPV and how much HPV caused cancer is aggrevated by these other factors.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cervical-cancer/DS00167/DSECTION=3
FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL. That's always the answer to things like this. Meanwhile, the American people get screwed.
The American people better wake up or they will find themselves enslaved with no rights. They obviously slept through the last election and now look at the mess we're in.
The money trail has been mapped out many times on this thread. The corruption is front and center, for the whole world to see. Anyone defending the mandate at this point knows their defending massive corruption.
Requiring this vaccine with few stats on the side effects is dangerous, IMO. The politicians are slowly taking away all your rights. Trying to justify giving up your rights is a very dangerous path to go down.
I think the governor of Texas has lost his mind along with the rest of the moronic politicians in this country.
ALWAYS call and voice your opinion. Pissed off voters is what they fear the most! They want power, power, power at the expense of everyone's rights. Always remember that!
He hasn't lost his mind. He's generated a profit. For himself.
Politicians want POWER, POWER, POWER. Do you really think they care about anything else? Forcing parents to give their children unproven vaccine is small potatoes in their scheme for power.
The Governor of Texas and all politicians don't care about anything but being re-elected and gaining more power over the people. The more rights they can take away, the better. In this case, it's parental rights they want to take away. Just another power grab. Too bad the American people are giving up their rights so easily.
Amen to your post.
One must wonder what the side effects of this experiment will be. How many of these little girls will grow up and find they can't have children?
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