I just love it when the NY Times publishes an editorial disguised as an article and hides the contradictory information at the end. In this case, it is the really relevant information about why Rick Perry's Gardasil power-grab is opposed by so many people -- and it has nothing to do with promiscuous nine-year-olds

Groups on both sides of the debate appear to have been energized by the executive order of Gov. Rick Perry on Feb. 2 mandating vaccination. Opponents have pounced on Gov. PerryÂ’s ties to Merck and Women in Government. His former chief of staff is a lobbyist for Merck in the state and his wife, a nurse who has worked to promote health, once spoke at a Women in Government conference on cervical cancer.

“I looked at all of this and said, someone is playing politics,” said Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum, a branch of Phyllis Schlafly’s national Eagle Forum, a conservative group that calls itself “pro-family.”

Citing various reasons, the Texas Medical Association is not currently supporting mandatory vaccination.

Dr. Carol Baker, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said that two other vaccines for adolescents that were approved in recent years — against meningitis and whooping cough — have not yet been mandated in Texas. “To mandate just one, in my view, is a little odd,” she said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is not advocating mandatory Gardasil vaccination, either. One source of opposition from pediatricians is cost. Buying enough H.P.V. vaccine for 100 girls would require a practice to lay out nearly $40,000 in advance. Many doctors say that the insurance reimbursement for giving the vaccine is not adequate to compensate them for administering it.

Dr. Bocchini of the American Academy of Pediatrics also said too much of the Gardasil focus was being placed on 11- and 12-year-olds, when legislatures should be focusing on trying to obtain funding to vaccinate girls and women in the 13-to-26 age group, many of whom are not covered by the federal vaccine programs aimed at children.

“A number of people are just not going to be able to get this vaccine,” he said.

Vaccines for serious illnesses that are more likely to be passed in classrooms are not required -- but Rick Perry is pushing the one that benefits his colleagues and contributors, and which his wife thinks is important. If he really gave a damn about public health, he would be trying to get the meningitis vaccine mandated through the legislative process. Instead, Perry is playing doctor with the little girls of Texas because of who it helps -- and I don't mean the little girls.

I will concede that I don't like the tactics and arguments of some of those on my side of this issue. Nor do I oppose the Gardasil vaccine, which I have repeatedly stated I would want any daughter of mine to have. But there is serious political corruption at work in Rick Perry's power grab, and there needs to be a greater discussion of the advisability of mandating this vaccine.

Posted by: Greg at 09:43 AM | Comments (51) | Add Comment
Post contains 528 words, total size 3 kb.