#14 Rick Perry actually issued an executive order in 2007 that would have forced almost every single girl in the state of Texas to receive the Gardasil vaccine before entering the sixth grade. Perry would have put parents in a position where they would have had to fill out an application and beg the government not to inject their child with a highly controversial vaccine. Since then, very serious safety issues regarding this vaccine have come to light. Fortunately, lawmakers in Texas blocked what Perry was trying to do. According to Wikipedia, many were troubled when "apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry were reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and Merck's hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas lobbying work." I have recently learned more of the background on this. The state covered the cost for this vaccine for low income children. However, private insurance would not cover the cost unless it was a required immunization. Concurrently, the method for opting out was made simple. The form was put online and only had to be filled out once. Prior to this, forms had to be requested, in person if you really wanted to be sure to get one, and had to be renewed each year.
This mandatory aspect of it bothered me at the time, even though I thought the vaccine was a good thing. Understanding the reasoning behind the move makes it much more logical and less imposing. The facts were poorly communicated at the time, though