Well I knew this would happen, but color me (naively) shocked to find that a Republican governor has been the first to cave to the lobbying efforts of Merck.
Yes folks, in the once-great state of Texas--a state with a population that typically doesn't cotton to being told what to do by the government (even Republican-led government), Governor Rick Perry has mandated that every girl between the ages of 9 and 26 receive Merck's new Gardasil vaccine against HPV (Human Papilloma Virus).
Nine year old girls need a vaccine against an STD?? Excuse me? And the consequences of not receiving this vaccine--if a girl should get HPV--are that she might get one of the few strains that causes cervical cancer? Why not mandate PAP smears while he's at it since routine PAPS catch almost all cases, and since even Gardasil recipients are advised (or we HOPE they will be advised) to continue to get their PAP smears as if they never had the vaccine?
What about boys? Why didn't Merck test the vaccine on men, especially since a woman who gets HPV gets it from having sex with an infected MAN? Oh, because Merck is run by MEN? Sure, I know, men don't have a cervix, but you know what, I betcha if men got testicular cancer by sleeping with infected women, the vaccine they'd make would be tested on and given to WOMEN first. Just a hunch...
All I know is, this is some scary shit. I hope the mandate is successfully challenged, and I hope there's a huge backlash against Merck. What I also hope is that despite how angry I am at this moment, none of the girls who will unwittingly comply with this mandate will suffer any adverse side-effects. I hope, but I won't bet my daughters' health on it!
Posted by insomnomaniac at February 6, 2007 10:26 PM | TrackBackI never had the shot yet I still developed cervical cancer. It was caught in 1997 while I was pregnant with my second child. I was successfully treated and have not had an relapse. That being said, would I have my daughters get this shot? Probably. Not yet though. They are all still too young to worry about this yet. When the time comes for the whole womanly health issues to start being addressed then I will likely have my girls have the shots. For me, it is better to be safe than sorry.
However, I do not believe it should be mandated. We are not talking about something like polio or hepititas (sp?).
Posted by: Bridget at February 8, 2007 9:09 AM