The first point, said another way, if HPV vaccination is "not mandatory" because of the opt out, then NO vaccine is mandatory, under Texas law. While that is technically true, given religious and medical exemptions, I think it is not the impression that Perry intended to leave, defending his EO. Is the measles vaccine mandatory in Texas? Would Perry say "Absolutely not, my EO saw to it that parent have an opt-out."?
-- The Lege had gradually mandated a core set of "opt out" vaccinations, delegated the mandating of other vaccines solely to the Commissioner of the Health Services, and made the opt out more and more restrictive. --
What do you mean by "more restrictive?" Unavailable for some vaccines? More of a hassle to obtain for all vaccines? Different opt-out procedures for different vaccines? Separately, are you saying that the legislature had developed the bureaucratic process for obtaining the state-issued affidavit?
-- From the buzz in 2007 in Austin, the Legislators themselves were surprised how difficult the opt out process had become, so they did not act against the portion of the Governor's EO that mad it easier and available on line. --
The legislature's reversal of Perry's EO did not implement or "avoid undoing" a Gardasil-specific opt-out. It avoided undoing "the" opt-out, the same opt-out that can be used for any vaccine. Was the legislature the entity that had set up the "you have to appear in Austin, in person, to obtain the state-issued affidavit" rule, in the first place? Or was that rule created by an administrative agency under the governor's sphere?
All opt outs follow the same opt out process. See the DSHS link above. Even the previous infection must be documented by a physician, although in real life we tend to document on the “shot record” and I’ve never known a family to need to get the form from the State to make day care or schools happy after we document infection.
The internet acces is a direct result of the Governor’s EO.
The claim of some that parents had to go to Austin and the letter-to-request-the-form-to-the -form were a resuult - possibly unintended - of the 2005 legislation that added the philosophical option to the previous medical reasons for opting out.