Although a similar bill died last month in the Michigan legislature, Texas lawmakers are actively considering making the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil for cervical cancer a requirement for all sixth-grade girls.
Perhaps, the only good news about both bills under consideration by the legislature: Parents can apply for exemptions, loopholes probably created amid concerns from critics regarding the high costs (physicians in southeast Texas are charging as much as $200 per HPV injection instead of $120 apiece for a three-dose regimen), superceding parental rights and sending the wrong message to young women.
In the process, the health of about 162,000 sixth-grade girls living in Texas may be affected by the legislature's final decision as well as the coffers of Merck looking to a means to pay for all those lawsuits and legal fees associated with their killer drug, Vioxx.
With California and Kentucky lawmakers considering similar HPV legislation, the fight to protect your children from another useless and likely toxic vaccine has merely started. Just remember, cervical cancer is virtually 100 percent avoidable without a vaccine.
Houston Chronicle January 10, 2007Kaisernetwork.org January 9, 2007