House Republicans argued if the vaccine is safe. The Food and Drug Administration has already approved the vaccine.
The vaccine, called Gardisil and developed by Merck & Co., was approved for girls and women ages 9 and 26. It is most useful if given to younger girls, because the vaccine is ineffective once the virus -- which is very common among sexually active people -- is already present.
The prospect of young girls receiving the vaccine has disturbed some social conservatives, who adamantly oppose efforts to make the vaccination mandatory. They say that sexual abstinence is the best way to avoid getting the virus.
But women's and public health groups are pressing hard for early and mandatory vaccinations, saying they will potentially save thousands of lives.
There is more concern about keep the social conservative base happy than preventing cancer. Michelle Halderman has tested positive for the HPV strains. She gave a powerful speech to the Florida House that cut to the heart of the matter.
"If this were a vaccine that could possible prevent breast cancer, prostate cancer or lung cancer, would here be any hesitancy? Would anyone even think of voting against that vaccine?" the 39-year-old Tallahassee resident asked the council. "Cancer is cancer. And cancer kills."
How many young women could be safed if one political party didn't pander to a small fringe of people.
I've been kind of set in my tracks against this vaccine for several reasons:
ReplyDeletea. Merck
b. they're pushing it so hard
c. mandatory guidelines make merck completely liability free.
d. no long-term studies done; the drug was approved lickety-split.
But, you probably know all this, too.
For anyone who doesn't there's a pretty good discussion over here:
Evil Sluts 10 things to Know about Gardasil
Merck did also back off on their huge push to make this mandatory. In some states (TX comes to mind) Republicans (yep, it's true) pushed through legislation making the vaccine mandatory and now other legilators are busily creating loopholes. argh and a half. It would be different if it were a choice thing but making something mandatory after so little research? NOT! It doesn't prevent cancer or anything .... (read on, if you will) it only decreases your chance of getting same .. and only a couple of them. Merck is trying to recover from the big VIOXX recall by going into the vaccine market ...
The FDA approved Vioxx too.
ReplyDeleteIf this new "wonder drug" is so safe and effective, then why would the gov't need to make it mandatory? People would be lining up for it!
Experiment with your own lab rat, leave my child out of it.