Posted on 02/05/2007 7:13:36 AM PST by Froufrou
Bypassing the Legislature altogether, Republican Gov. Rick Perry issued an order Friday making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.
By using an executive order, Perry sidestepped opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents-rights groups who fear such a requirement would seem to condone premarital sex and interfere with the way Texans raise their children.
Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade -- meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 -- will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.
Perry also directed state health authorities to make the vaccine available free to girls 9 to 18 who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover vaccines. In addition, he ordered that Medicaid offer Gardasil to women ages 19 to 21.
Perry, a conservative Christian who opposes abortion 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 from the one that protects children against polio.
"The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer," Perry said.
Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil 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.
Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's 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.
The governor also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.
The order is effective until Perry or a successor changes it, and the Legislature has no authority to repeal it, said Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody. Moody said the Texas Constitution permits the governor to order other members of the executive branch to adopt rules like this one.
Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing affidavits objecting to vaccines on religious or philosophical reasons. Even with such provisions, however, conservative groups say such requirements interfere with parents' rights to make medical decisions for their children.
Unlike MMR, HPV is not transmitted through the air. There is, therefore, no need to immunize almost everyone to protect the general population, unlike other vaccines. Moreover, Cervical cancer is quite uncommon in the U.S. (although it's more common elsewhere). There are about 10,000 cases a year here, out of a population of about 120 million women--less than 1/10th of 1 percent. Of those 10,000 cases, there are 4,000 deaths, most of which could have been prevented by annual pap smears.
It's not just crazed "fundamentalists" who should object to the state mandating this new vaccine for 11 and 12 year-old girls--especially a mandate imposed by the governor, without input from the legislature or citizenry, at the behest of the vaccine's manufacturer. Every conservative should be able to see how intrusive and obnoxious this deal is.
I'm looking for a large group as we speak. I already e-mailed the legislature and told them they can expect to see my name many, many, many more times.
So you believe you are the one to make these decisions and not the parents?
How very liberal of you.
What about those who have less control over their daughters than you? Should they be able to get the vaccine free of charge?
"So you believe you are the one to make these decisions and not the parents?"
As has been repeated stated, the parents can opt-out of this, so no-one is making any decisiosn for anyone.
The only effect is that: (1) people will have to make an informed choice to accept or not accept the vaccine and (2) those that are financially unable to pay get it "free" from the school nurse.
Just like all the other vaccines out there.
Plus, there are risks to every single vaccine, and the risks should be discussed with your doctor.
My daughter has brain damage, and we discussed vaccines with him. They ordered a different kind of DPT shot for her to reduce the risks of that shot.
Since, the new HPV vaccine has neurological side effects, I don't know if the benefets of this shot will be worth the risks.
However, it is a matter that should be discussed with our doctor, and we (her parents) should decide. If we haven't vaccinated her by 18, then she can decide for herself.
I was talking about a child in my care,
Jeez louise.
You can do whatever you want, just don't withhold from me and mine.
Ahem. You're the one who brought them up in your previous post.
-----
I just gave the quarantine powers as other example of the "Governor practicing medicine" which was your objection.
If we were talking about a quarantine or an epidemic, it would be different.
A quarantine is not a vaccination.
This vaccination is not for an epidemic.
It's a sellout of the children of the State of Texas by their political whore of a governor...period.
My children are not the State's guinea pigs. They can decide for themselves when they reach their age of majority whether they want this vaccine or not.
Until then, I will file both Administrative and Civil affidavits of exemption with the respective legal authorities as well as keeping my children home on the day the vaccination takes place.
Wouldn't want there to be any 'mistakes', donchaknow.
Perry is in the hot seat for this.
On Saturday morning, on liberal KGO radio in very liberal San Francisco, their health person (Jody Cragins) was on talking about this vaccine. She thought it was bad idea to give it to young girls before it had been thoroughly tested. She thought it was bad to mandate it.
If a liberal is against it, that's pretty crazy.
Yeah,
It's not a very PC world, I know. But really, whatever it takes to survive at this point ;)
You and Perry are not conservative in my mind.
I just e-mailed him:
Dear Sir:
I am writing to protest the recent executive action you have taken mandating the vaccination of sixth grade girls against HPV.
That this is a VERY thinly veiled payback to your former chief of staff and his new employer, Merck, is truly sad. It speaks to your disregard for what constituents want almost as loudly as your continued pursuit of the dreaded Trans Texas Corridor, even though voters have shown that it is not to our liking.
Moreover, the fact that HPV attacks the cervix via ‘male bombardment’ should certainly be illustrative of the fact that males need ‘protection’ [from carrying the virus] as much as females do. Why, then, is your mandate so gender discriminatory?
The biggest distress is that I actually voted for you. I thought you were a conservative. Instead, I find that your hand is in our pockets to the tune of $360 per girl for this atrocity. You are presenting yourself as a tax-and-spend liberal. I am thoroughly appalled at the pomposity with which you have inked this deal.
You are disgracing us as a state.
You want your daughters to have the vaccine, that's up to you. It's available, and it's legal. I just don't want government telling all parents they have to get their daughters this vaccine.
Yes, I read that later in the thread.
The last election was hopeless. Who was the conservative to vote for?
I came very close to voting for Strayhorn. Very close. I admire her pedigree. I have sent letters to the Chair of The Human Services Committee, Jane Nelson [thanks to your link!] and to the Attorney General, as well.
I don't know what typhoid numbers are, but HPV is the most common STI in the US. Over half of women are exposed to it within four years of beginning sexual activity. Eighty percent of women will have contracted it by the time they reach the age of 50. Most don't get sick, but some do; some get very, very sick. Every year there are over a million cases of potentially cancerous growths that need treatment, and several thousand cancer fatalities, costing $2 billion. (Posted my sources in the previous thread that got 600+ replies, too lazy to post them again here.)
The FDA's fact sheet on Gardasil is available here. As usual, the anti-vaccination crowd is blowing the incidence of negative side-effects all out of proportion. (0.03 percent suffered headaches, oh no! But only 0.02 percent of the placebo group suffered headaches -- obviously, this "placebo" is better! Why didn't the FDA approve placebos instead? It must be the evil pharma corporations!)
These recommendations have been proposed by the ACIP
The CDC hasn't even MADE a recommendation yet, the HPV vaccine issue is still under consideration
Wanna bet this "Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. " is one of those not-for-profit quasi governmental entities?
ARGH!
I'm not certain about this. The FDA says that it's only approved for females aged 9-26, here. Doubtless it will eventually be available for males, but for now I think it's a girls'-only club.
It would be wise for them to do so, even though they personally suffer no ill effects from the virus.
Genital warts, penile cancer, and anal cancer -- granted, the cancers are rarer than the female versions, but still ... who wouldn't want a vaccine to reduce the chance of getting cancer in their equipment?
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