Posted on 02/11/2008 8:40:01 AM PST by pissant
Washington (CNSNews.com) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry has no regrets about his proposal requiring sixth grade girls to get a vaccine protecting them from a sexually transmitted disease, even though reports surfaced that some vaccine recipients suffered miscarriages while others had numbness or paralysis after the vaccine was administered.
A year ago, Perry, a Republican, signed an executive order making Texas the first state in the country to require girls entering the sixth grade to get a Gardasil vaccination to guard against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a leading cause of cervical cancer. It didn't take long for the Texas Legislature to enact a veto-proof law overriding the order and prohibiting schools from requiring the vaccine.
Recent reports to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), many of them still unconfirmed, show that more than 3,000 adverse reactions to the vaccine have been reported. The reports are made through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which is essentially raw data that the CDC and FDA must verify. (See earlier story)
"Any drug is going to have questions about it," Perry told Cybercast News Service Saturday. "We had questions about measles. We had questions about polio. We had questions about practically every vaccine that has ever been developed."
The vaccine, manufactured by Merck & Co., remains controversial. The most consistent adverse reaction reported after Gardasil shots were administered includes at least 13 cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a disorder in which the immune system attacks nerves and can trigger numbness and paralysis.
Potential litigation is in the works, according to Chicago attorney John Driscoll.
The CDC responded to the reports this summer, saying that 13 cases of GBS are in proportion with the general population, with or without the Gardasil vaccination. Further, only two reported cases met the definition of GBS when further investigated, the CDC said.
Eight deaths were reported to the CDC and FDA, but only four of those deaths were confirmed as of the end of last year and they each occurred for reasons other than the Gardasil vaccine, a CDC spokesman said.
Since June 2006, when the FDA approved Gardasil, there have been 28 reported cases in which pregnant women miscarried after receiving the vaccine. But not all of those reports have been confirmed, according to the federal agencies. (See story)
Last year, three states -- Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia -- passed laws mandating that girls entering the sixth grade get the HPV vaccine, and that is what Perry attempted to do in Texas.
"The issue is saving young ladies' lives," Perry said in the interview. "Is this case important enough to have this vaccine available? I think it is. I'm a very pro-life governor. This is a pro-life issue for me."
After the FDA approved Gardasil, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended routine vaccinations for girls ages 11 and 12.
HPV infects 20 million people in the United States, and there are about 6.2 million new cases each year, according to the CDC. HPV is responsible for nearly 70 percent of cervical cancer cases.
But the American College of Pediatrics and the New England Journal of Medicine oppose making the vaccine mandatory.
A Merck spokeswoman told Cybercast News Service last year that all potential complications from Gardasil are listed on the package, and she stressed that reports coming into the government are raw data.
This would be a Huckabee/McCain style republican...
Requiring the vaccination CHILDREN for a disease that comes from sexual contact - in the name of preventing future cancer that is thought to be brought on by ONE variety of this particular disease....
If parents want to vaccinate their children - that is their business, but to require it is just wrong. What ever happened to teaching children about right and wrong? Oh - that would require some sense of responsibility and accountability. Do too much of that and we won’t have need for the government....
Why start at 6th grade ? Why not start at Kindergarten ? And as for the boys , why not hand out condoms to 5th graders (since traditionally boys become active earlier than girls) ?
On a totally unrelated topic, hasn’t the gov also endorsed Mccain ?
Yes, sad to say that this is where our Chief executive of Texas places his priorities. Meanwhile, we have ten times more Texas citizens being taken hostage and killed by Mexican drug gangs than 6th grade girls dieing from HPV.
The man’s a pandering fool and a protege of Bush. That says it all.
You're also a pathological liar, governor. You know the dispute isn't about the vaccine's being "available": it's about the vaccine's being required. And it's about the $$$ you got from the manufacturer, too.
Enthusiastically, to the point of admonishing Huckabee to give up and throw his support to McCain and "dictating" to his Texas constituents to "get behind McCain".
Perry is in his own little hair salon world.
First, he was behind Guliani. When he dropped out, he put his support behind McCain.
First, he was behind Guliani. When he dropped out, he put his support behind McCain.
Sorry ‘bout the double post. My mouse has a mind of it’s own sometimes.
“Folks, we have some real prizewinners in the GOP.”
That’s a polite way of putting it.
That used to be called bribery.
Geez, I’m tired of these GOP Fascists who want to use the power of the state for their personal brand of evangelical do-gooderism.
Now it’s called “campaign contributions,” although to be fair, it probably always was to some extent. I think most politicians are owned by someone; the trick is figuring out who!
Term limits would nice - that would make buying politicians more expensive.
But boy was I ever wrong and not just in a small way.
Perry like his predecessor El Presidente Bush has bent over backwards to pander to the Mexicans and to the left of center Democrats.
Perry in my estimation thought that by being a fringe conservative that he someday could be like Bush and run for president.
ping
Every death FROM the vaccine nullifies a death FROM the cancer.
Pap tests are still the best and will still be needed because the vaccine doesn't address ALL the causes of cervical cancer. So forcing women to get a vaccine that might kill them when there are safer ways of addressing cervical cancer, is really irresponsible.
If he’s so pro-life, what’s he doing to restrict abortions that kill thousands of baby girls and sometimes their mothers from the procedure. What a hypocrite!
Yes, he endorses McCain. The Texas governor’s race had no viable contestants, either. I am starting to see a pattern here.
Campaign contributions are legal, up to a certain amount. But unfortunately for the governor, bribery is not.
MOm Ping.
Availability is one thing, mandating this is an entirely different issue.
About the only thing I can say VA Gov. Kaine did well was amending this to ease the opt out process -- he should have just vetoed the danged thing altogether, but something is better than nothing.
In July of '09 I will be opting my daughter out of it prior to her entering 6th grade.
Since 2002 we have seen two governors go to federal prison for corruption. Perry may be the third.
I thought ALL vaccines demanded by the CDC were always safe?
This isn’t about sex. It’s about cancer which happens to be a linked to a (most frequently) sexually-transmitted virus. They start at that age because it’s best to vaccinate before sexual activity but at a safe and medicinally appropriate point in the child’s development.
This isn’t about sex. It’s about cancer. The link between certain varieties of HPV and cancer (not just cervical) is not just speculation. Do you really feel good about not protecting a daughter from rapists and sexual predators giving them this virus (and cancer) because you think vaccination might somehow encourage sexual activity?
ANYONE can enter information into VAERS. Therefore, it is strictly an anecdotal record of unconfirmed adverse reactions. Some of the anti-vaccine "researchers" use it extensively to advance their agenda.
Gov. Goodhair is an idiot!
There haven't been any deaths attributed to the vaccine. Not to say that there haven't been, or that it couldn't happen, but as of now, there haven't been any. Eventually, 100% of the people getting Gardisil will die, but that doesn't mean it was caused by Gardisil....
PAP tests work at detecting abnormalities before they get to be a problem. Women will still have to get them because this isn’t an anti-cancer vaccine, it’s a vaccine against HPV which is connected to a certain portion of cervical cancers.
It’s not worth making mandatory just because of some *what if* scenario that probably will not happen.
Exceptions are bad things to make laws over.
Available, yes; mandatory, no.
Unbelievable, cr@p like this. Unbelievable. Thank God I have sons.
Com'on guys, cut Perry some slack.
It IS awfully hard to see clearly when your head's up your arse.
MamaT!!!???!! You are right about Perry Como. But more importantly, you’re ALIVE! :o)
thanks for the ping!
:-)
Yikes, thanks for the update. The spin never ends.
I can’t even express how sick I am of Republicans using the “Pro-Life” or “Christian” tags to justify every big government invasion of privacy.
Yep, still kickin! ;-p
----
Perry is a bought & paid for slime who wouldn't recognize his Constitutional duty if it bit him on his plastic behind.
Just like every other professional politician, he's in it for himself.
The whole bunch just makes me GAG!
I wonder how much Merck stock he owns.
Darn good to see you. And FWIW, I tend to agree with you. Keep your eye open for FALCON.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961828/posts
Thanks for the heads up on FALCON. Somethings got to be done, the slide to the left that the GOP is doing isn't setting well with a lot of people.
That may be a good thing in the long run. :-)
“But the American College of Pediatrics and the New England Journal of Medicine oppose making the vaccine mandatory.”
‘nuff said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has no regrets about his proposal
Perry, a Republican, signed an executive order
It wasn't a 'proposal', it was an EDICT handed down from our Master, King Perry.
I was among many who apparently raised some Cain with the Texas AG about the Governor's blatant over extension of his powers of office.
Hehehehe... I assume you just forgot the sarcasm tag....
I don't believe the CDC "demands" any vaccines. It is governments themselves (Federal or State) who require vaccines.
And if they are all safe, then I need to tell some folks I know who have family who were seriously affected by those "safe" vaccines - including one child who nearly died.
Gov Good Hair has always always been a dim. He just switched parties to get elected. It is part my fault for voting for him twice. BIG MISTAKE! Texas is ASHAMED Perry is from Texas.
You guys got stuck with a real lemon.
Oh boy.... please don't play that game with me. The amazing chase to eliminate 100% of EVERY SINGLE danger to children (and adults) is a race that can never be completed or won. If we start demanding girls get vaccinated against every little thing they could ever come in contact with... ugh. I'm going to shut up now before I get upset.
Be happy buying the trash from the media and those who think they know better than we do what is best for us. The government likes you that way.
EXACTLY -— which is why this makes me so angry.
I don’t want the same government who can’t efficiently run the DMV or post office to make my medical decisions for me.
i don’t care one bit if they make it available.
i do care when i, as a parent, am not allowed
to decline.
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