Just out of curiosity, did Merck try this Gardasil stunt in any other state - or was Perry the only one to take the bait?
I can’t seem to find any other states that mandate or attempted to mandate it, not even California or other left-wing states.
In fact Los Angeles Unified School District started providing Gardasil in the 2006-2007 school year.
Perry signed his order in early 2007.
You only hear about Perry because his opt-out "mandate" cause a fuss and was overturned by the TX legislature.
Much of the outrage comes from people who bafflingly see Gardasil as permission for wantonly immoral sex by young kids rather than classed like other vaccines. Then you have the anti-vaccine types who want nothing to do with them no matter how safe or useful.
Since it "opting-out" was always offered under Perry's order the scale of outrage always seemed disproportionate to the his "offense" unless you fall in one of the aforementioned groups.
FDA approved it. American Academy of Pediatrics recommended it. CDC recommended it. It's not as if this was some sick Tuskegee Experiment on little girls. Or done in secret. Or had no opt-out provision.
The vaccine is useless if the patient is already infected so you give the vaccine late enough in life that it's safe yet early enough existing infection is highly improbable. In this case, it's given before sexual activity might take place.
HPV, strains of which Gardasil protects against, infects three-quarters of the population in their lifetime. Most don't know it because they're asymptomatic and their natural immune system kills the virus. Gardasil is narrowly aimed at the strains which cause cervical cancer only.
Parents are creeped out at the idea of their children one day being sexual active but that uneasiness clouds the fundamental good here: preventing cervical cancer. No daughter is going to know if she'll be exposed by a creep boyfriend, a vile rapist or an unfaithful husband. The man himself likely wouldn't know he was a carrier.
Yes cervical cancer can be treatable if caught early but the cold reality is women die from it.
Maybe Perry should've gone about it differently but I believe he has a strong argument saying it was in keeping with his "prolife" principles and he always let parents have the final say.
In fact Los Angeles Unified School District started providing Gardasil in the 2006-2007 school year.
Perry signed his order in early 2007.
You only hear about Perry because his opt-out "mandate" cause a fuss and was overturned by the TX legislature.
Much of the outrage comes from people who bafflingly see Gardasil as permission for wantonly immoral sex by young kids rather than classed like other vaccines. Then you have the anti-vaccine types who want nothing to do with them no matter how safe or useful.
Since it "opting-out" was always offered under Perry's order the scale of outrage always seemed disproportionate to the his "offense" unless you fall in one of the aforementioned groups.
FDA approved it. American Academy of Pediatrics recommended it. CDC recommended it. It's not as if this was some sick Tuskegee Experiment on little girls. Or done in secret. Or had no opt-out provision.
The vaccine is useless if the patient is already infected so you give the vaccine late enough in life that it's safe yet early enough existing infection is highly improbable. In this case, it's given before sexual activity might take place.
HPV, strains of which Gardasil protects against, infects three-quarters of the population in their lifetime. Most don't know it because they're asymptomatic and their natural immune system kills the virus. Gardasil is narrowly aimed at the strains which cause cervical cancer only.
Parents are creeped out at the idea of their children one day being sexual active but that uneasiness clouds the fundamental good here: preventing cervical cancer. No daughter is going to know if she'll be exposed by a creep boyfriend, a vile rapist or an unfaithful husband. The man himself likely wouldn't know he was a carrier.
Yes cervical cancer can be treatable if caught early but the cold reality is women die from it.
Maybe Perry should've gone about it differently but I believe he has a strong argument saying it was in keeping with his "prolife" principles and he always let parents have the final say.