Texas lawmakers fought to block governor Rick Perry’s executive order to have school girls vaccinated with the Merck drug Gardasil. The House voted 118-23 last week Wednesday to approve a bill that would keep Gardisil off the list of required shots for school attendance. The measure will now go before the state Senate. It’s said that more than half of the members there are co-sponsoring a bill that is identical. Those 118 votes are more than enough to override a veto by the governor!
The controversial order from the governor has met opposition and praise from both ends of the political spectrum. Many critics of Merck’s Gardisil vaccine have argued that it’s too new and more studies need to be done before it’s mandated for Texas school girls. Others say that it will promote promiscuity and that it doesn’t allow the family of the child to make a choice of what should be done.
What are your thoughts on these proceedings?
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Working in a doctor’s office, I have already had a lot of experience with personal stories of this vaccine. Although I agree that this vaccine is too new to promote mandation, I have to disagree that this vaccine will promote promisculity. Nothing will ever promote promiscuity except the lack of conversation between parents and children. This vaccine has the same role as the Hepatitis B vaccine, which is required in our state. It is to prevent a virus. Sex choices will fall between the child and the encouragement or discouragement of the parent. I do recommend to get your female children and young adults vaccinated, but I also encourage parents to speak with those children. Just because we can now prevent this virus doesn’t mean sex is now free. There are still several STD’s and STI’s that can be contracted. Let’s not forget that we do NOT have a vaccine from HIV, the deadliest of all STD’s.
I think more test should be done before giving injections to these young children. I went on yesterday to get the shot for my daughter and it is expensive and the insurance companies are not showing these as approved injection. $180.00 is a lot of money for a single parent. But if that was not enough, my daughter had the injection and she went numb and fainted. She also started sweating like crazy and cried that the shot hurt her. I know that shots do not feel good but do we know enough about this drug. I am not taking her back for the second dose because of the reaction to the first shot was devasting to her as well as myself. I would like my daughter to be ready for what ever comes her way and I don’t feel I am telling her to be sexually active but she will be prepared.