Jury is still out on the new experimental HPV (Human Papilloma Virus vaccine)........

     A very new and experimental vaccine, HPV has really got my temper flaring and my blood boiling because of the way it is being handled in the great state of Texas. Gov. Rick Perry has single handedly taken it upon himself to be the self appointed savior of all young girls twelve and under. Can someone tell me where on earth he came up with this idea? Could it possibly be his close ties with Merck?
     It is not that I am against this new and virtually untested vaccine, I am against the way it is being handled. He has single handedly appointed himself as the saviour of the young female population in the state of Texas.
     All the other states are staying in the background because they probably want to wait and see what is going to happen. We still do not really know what the side effects will be.
     "Public health authorities generally wait for several years before requiring children to get a new vaccine. For example, Merck's chickenpox vaccine, licensed in 1995, did not become mandatory in many states until 1999. The time between licensing and requirement allowed authorities time to view the safety and effectiveness record of the new vaccine before they ordered children to receive it."
     "But when Merck's HPV vaccine was licensed in June, 2006 the company quickly began a diret-to-public marketing campaign and started lobbying states to make the vaccine mandaatory. State public health officials, who usually take the lead in such decisions, were taken by surprise."
     You know, I remember back during the 1950's when many touted a new product across the country that would help pregnant women avoid morning sickness. It was advertised as an extremely safe product with little or no known side effects. Can we say thalidomide? For those of you who remember, you saw what happened among the women who accepted the drug.
     It was a royal travesty with so many newborn children with horrible defects. The arms and legs, or lack thereof were damaged the most and some children were born with flippers instead if they were born with anything. Little or no side effects, right!
     Now, you tell me, if these little girls in Texas, who are going to be used as ginny pigs for lack of a better way to say it are guarranteed safe passage. Ten, fifteen or perhaps twenty years from now will we be seeing mass deformities caused by this drug? 
     Will these little girls wind up contracting the disease just because they were given the innoculation? There is always a percentage of the population who develop the disease they were innoculated against.
     We are talking about injecting a live virus into our little girls for a disease that could kill them. I feel compelled to point out that not every female who walks this earth is stricken with this deadly disease. Why is this a one size fits all solution?
     If any of these little girls were mine I would really have to decide whether to leave the state, try private school or home school. However, they would not be exposed to this new, untested innoculation. My eleven and twelve year old daughtes would not be allowed to be used as a test bed.