Government going beyond its boundaries
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) pulled the pin on a political grenade that made many rethink their support for current GOP presidential frontrunner Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas). On Sept. 13, Bachmann exposed that in 2007 Perry mandated all sixth-grade girls in Texas receive Gardasil, the vaccine for human papillomavirus.
The mandate, however, made by executive order, was never actually implemented after extreme backlash. That someone who supposedly champions individual liberty and limited government attempted to impose such a personal order on young girls is disturbing.
During a time in which there is raging debate over Obamacare and an increasing perception of government-heavy handedness in healthcare, the HPV debacle doesn’t really come as a huge shock. Just because it isn’t shocking, however, doesn’t make its implications any less frightening for American democracy.
HPV, a sexually-transmitted virus, is known to be a cause of cervical cancer in certain strains. Gardasil is doubtlessly a great medical advancement that all girls and young women should consider, but by no means should they be required to.
Unlike other pathogens, vaccinations can render ineffective, such as polio and measles, mumps and rubella, HPV is not a public health threat. It is not easily communicable and is mostly spread through sexual contact.
Assuming most 11-to-12-year-old girls aren’t sexually active, requiring all sixth-grade girls be vaccinated for a sexually transmitted virus is unnecessarily proactive, not to mention a major violation of parents’ rights to decide whether and when their children are injected with a manufactured substance.
The prospect of the government at any level forcing a needle into its citizens’ arms sounds wrong, but especially when these arms belong to innocent preteen girls without any choice in the matter. Their parents would have no say either.
The government’s job is not to make personal decisions for its citizens, especially when those decisions involve an individual’s sex life. When it comes to protection from a widespread public health threat that could affect the entire population, it’s a different story. Instead of leveling an executive order regarding the personal health of young girls, the most Perry should have done was encourage his state’s citizens to be inoculated, and not until they were actually of or near an age at which they would likely become sexually active.
The last thing we need is the government encroaching where it doesn’t belong and trampling on parents’ and patients’ rights.
Sarah Cueva is a sophomore majoring in political science. Her point runs Fridays.
How can you as a woman and maybe ONE day be a mother of little girls even writte this article HPV is a VACCINE to PREVENT a dicease. CANCER to be exact. what is wrong with your thinking. this vaccine should be available and given to every female out there. please get you toughts straight. ARTICLE no good
1) This is not an STD vaccine, this is a cancer vaccine that happens to suppress the responsible STD. HPV can be transmitted (albeit extremely rarely) via birth–reducing the risk of transmission helps everyone’s health, not just the receivers.
2) If this prevented strains of HPV from non-sexual contact, there would be a lot less controversy, such as strains transmitted via handshakes or close-quarters contact (e.g. public transport, dorms).
3) Many states mandate vaccinations for the safety of the public, especially things like meningitis or Hepatitis. If you opt to have vaccinations made optional you increase the risk of mutations, which in turn can lead to worse epidemics or render previous versions of vaccines inefficient. Preventive vaccinations are not a matter of reducing viral exposure, it’s matter of eradicating and neutralizing viruses on a massive scale. Perry did this on a state level, which should make states-rights people happy.
This is not about constitutional rights, commerce, or sexuality, this is about ensuring that the entire American population remains healthy. The government is trusted to protect its citizens and this is just one of the steps.
So you would prefer that many women later die of cervical cancer? The idea of vaccinating girls before they are sexually active (and frankly boys should be vaccinated too) is that you catch them before they are exposed to the disease in the first place. Once exposed vaccinations help no one. All vaccines work best when applied broadly. This vaccine has been safely administered to millions of people. The reason that you as a young person grew up in a world free of polio, whooping cough, deaths from tetanus, many other diseases as well as drastically reduced death rates due to the flu is becauce vaccines were applied broadly to a cross spectrum of the population. They only resevoirs of Polio left are in countries where – you guessed it – vaccination is optional.
Vaccines save lives. I think that preserving the lives of women young and old and preventing them from going through the threat of cervical cancer is worth it. Michelle Bachmann’s science (as usual) is wrong, and though I’m no champion of either candidate Governor Perry’s approach is the right one to protect the population he’s responsible for. I’m surprised that as a student educated at such an excellent college you would support her position in any way. She also believes in creationism – is that part of your argument for her wisdom?
You completely missed the point of this article. While some of the writer’s scientific facts may be questionable, her point is that the government should NOT have the authority to mandate STD vaccinations for everyone. They are overstepping their boundaries in their never-ending quest to protect us from ourselves. Someday there may be an HIV vaccine available. Should the government mandate all children get vaccinated against that virus, too? You and your liberal friends may think so, but there are plenty of people in this country who think otherwise.
I am not missing her point at all, Mr. “hide behind an anonymous name in your comment”. The only way that vaccinations work well is if they are broadly applied to the general population. The best way for that to happen is for governments to mandate participation at the most effective stage. If you grew up in the US you’ve already had a number of mandatory vaccines – you can’t go to school without them. One could argue that protecting the population from disease is perhaps one of government’s most important roles.
Yes, in the case of an HIV vaccine the government should mandate it – just as they mandated polio vaccinations in the late 50’s and early 60’s and STILL MANDATE THEM TODAY. HIV, HPV – these are all health and safety issues. This isn’t a liberal issue, or a conservative issue – this is an issue of public health, vaccine science and plain old common sense.