Vaccine DANGERS
they are ineffective and not worth it....
Texas lawmakers vote on cancer vaccine By APRIL
CASTRO, Associated Press Writer
Wed Mar 14, 12:53 PM ET
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas lawmakers are fighting to block
the governor's order requiring that sixth-grade girls
be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical
cancer, with the House giving final approval to a bill
to make the shots strictly voluntary.
Gov. Rick Perry's executive order has inflamed
conservatives who say it contradicts Texas'
abstinence-only sexual education policies and intrudes
into family lives. Some critics also have questioned
whether the vaccine has been proven safe.
The House voted 118-23 on Wednesday to approve a bill
that would keep the vaccine off the list of required
shots for school attendance. The measure now heads to
the state Senate, where more than half the members are
co-sponsoring an identical bill.
The 118 votes for the bill Wednesday would be more
than enough to override a veto by the governor.
The vaccine protects girls against some strains of
human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted
virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer. A
February report by the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention estimated that one in four U.S.
women ages 14 to 59 is infected with the virus.
Perry's order directed Health and Human Services
Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins to adopt rules
to vaccinate all girls entering the sixth grade as of
September 2008. Parents could have refused the shots
for their daughters.
Lawmakers said the governor circumvented the
legislative process.
The House bill "will not take away the option for a
single girl or a single family in this state to choose
to vaccinate a child," said Republican Rep. Dennis
Bonnen of Angleton, the lead author of the bill. "It
simply says a family must make that choice, not a
state government."
The governor's office has estimated that only 25
percent of young women in Texas would get the vaccine
if it is not mandatory.
Critics also have argued that the vaccine, called
Gardasil, was too new and its effects needed to be
further studied before mandating it for Texas
schoolgirls. The Food and Drug Administration
approved Gardasil last year.
Elsewhere, a New Mexico bill that requiring the shots
for sixth-grade girls is expected to be signed by the
end of this week by Gov. Bill Richardson, spokesman
Gilbert Gallegos said. And Virginia Gov. Timothy M.
Kaine has said he would sign a similar bill passed by
his state's Legislature.
Although the Wyoming Legislature recently rejected a
request for $4 million specifically to fund HPV
vaccination, the state's Department of Health intends
to continue offering the vaccine to eligible girls
with existing funding until the money run out.
In other states, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's
budget proposal, unveiled in February, proposed
offering free shots in a voluntary program to all
girls ages 9 to 18. A California Assembly committee on
Tuesday put off voting on a bill that would require
girls entering the seventh grade to be vaccinated
against HPV.
GARDASIL DEATHS
As of July 3, 2007 This just reported
Amid controversy over state legislatures in the U.S.
requiring young girls to take Gardasil, Merck's new
vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), severe side
effects are being reported.
1,637 adverse reactions have been reported by Judicial
Watch, a public interest watchdog, including three
girls who died shortly after receiving the
immunization. Judicial Watch obtained the reports from
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration using the
Freedom of Information Act.
In Australia, 25 girls who had just received their
first injection of the vaccine experienced headache,
nausea, and dizziness. In some cases, the problems
were so severe that they were hospitalized. Shares of
the vaccine's Australian developer, CSL, fell after
the incident was reported in the news.