Thread: Gov. Rick Perry Texas Requires Anti-Cancer Vaccine for Girls

Updated:2007-02-02 23:29:31
Texas Requires Anti-Cancer Vaccine for Girls
By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON
AP

AUSTIN, Texas (Feb. 2) - 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 causes cervical cancer.

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By employing an executive order, Perry sidestepped opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents' rights groups who fear such a requirement would 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, as head of the executive branch, to order other members of the executive branch to adopt rules like this one.

Legislative aides said they are looking for ways around the order for parents who oppose it.


"He's circumventing the will of the people," said Dawn Richardson, president of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education, a citizens group that fought for the right to opt out of other vaccine requirements. "There are bills filed. There's no emergency except in the boardrooms of Merck, where this is failing to gain the support that they had expected."

Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit objecting to the vaccine 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.

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.

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Here is the abuse of the executive order again.

This clearly benefits Merck. GW gets a lot of money from pharmaceutical companies too.

I do agree that human papillomavirus or HPV is very serious. I know two women with it. Both are very irresponsible and not treating it and at the same time spreading it.

Too bad we don't have a vacine to prevent poor judgement and bad behavior.

Dixie

This is NOT good!

once again the loss of another right.

Yep, more abuse of power. Parents have should have the right to determine whether or not they want this live virus injected into their healthy children. BTW, I understand there are some nasty side affects NOT being reported and that the vaccine lasts only four years. So every four years taxpayers will have to pay for more vaccines. A big $$ Win $$ for Merck.

I'm with y'all. This is not a good thing.

Man, we have to get this clown out of office. Period.

Maybe Rick is watching out for his own personal interests. You know how our politicians are...if you know what I mean.

What is happening here is nothing more than making themselves the parents, by forcing people to abide by the state governments decisions for their children.

People in Texas need to fight this. I know if Oregons governor decided it, I would be there, telling him and anyone else they needed to keep their hands off of my families Constitutional rights and freedoms.

My kids DO NOT take the mandatory vaccinations, they have had all too many problems, too many potential side effects (besides, how many of us want vaccinations injected into our children with fetal and primate cells, as well as thermasol?), and in our modern era, all too many childhood diseases the vaccinations treat, the vaccines side effects can be worse than the illness in it's natural form.

The human body has a great capacity to heal and to make itself immune to many things, however with our overuse of vaccinations, antibiotics, anti-inflamatory and steroids, as well as our lousy diets, we have hampered our bodies abilities to fight off even the most minor infections or viruses.

Originally Posted by Lone_Patriot

once again the loss of another right.

That is certainly what it feels like to me.