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Merck To Halt Lobbying For Vaccine
theodp writes "Reacting to a furor from some parents, advocacy groups, and public health experts, Merck said yesterday that it would stop lobbying state legislatures to require the use of its new cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, which acts against strains of the sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus. The $400, 3-shot regimen was approved by the FDA in June. Later that month, a federal advisory panel recommended that females 11-26 years old be vaccinated. The governor of Texas has already signed an executive order making its use mandatory for schoolgirls."
Weird, usually religious wingnuts are fear mongering ("think of the evil rapists out there"), but they don't like to think about that stuff when it comes to vaccinating their kids.
Not to mention that even if their little girl behaves just like jesus wants it to (tm), that still doesn't mean her partner has not have had sex before marriage, isn't cheating on her later or whatever.
Plus, it is possible to contract HPV outside of sexual contact...
I despise these idiots.
To somebody who believes pre-marital sex is wrong, it's like giving your kid a bullet proof vest for his birthday and saying "you know I don't want you to mug people, but if you do mug people, please wear it."
You are talking about people who tell a story about a man who actually intended to kill his son as a human sacrifice because the voice in his head told him to. Then they hold up this story as a model for moral behavior.
Obviously STDs are God's punishment for (insert current religious hysteria) so we shouldn't try to thwart His will by vaccinating.
To those who hold those views, rational thought isn't precisely something they find intuitive.
"The guide is definitive, reality is frequently inaccurate."
I do not trust these guys. These guys spend hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby lawmakers. It only covers 4 of the 127 strains of HPV and you need a booster every five years. At over $350 a shot, that's over $100 million a year in Texas alone. I wonder how much of that will find it's way back to Gov. Perry. This stinks to high heaven.
/. reader purchase a minimum of 1 PC a year from me. What a sweet deal that would be!
I wish I could have the government mandate that every
"Fine, that's their priority, and I can't criticize someone for thinking that sin is a more dire concern than cancer. "
You can when it kills people.
I jjst think of their poor brainwashed children.
Teaching religeo to children is nothing short of child abuse.
A way to instill them with fear for there entire lives, and a way for people to manipulate them and abuse them.
The moment any religeon appraoches anyone that didn't specifically ask, that religeon should be outlawed..or at least taxed.
Our fore fathers would be disgusted at how religeon is running amok. What is going on today is exactly what they didn't want. The idea was you can practice religeon, but not interfere with government, the wall between Church and state is falling.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"are you concerned about the cost of the program"
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Yes. $400/female. Is that the best use of health dollars? Let's do a little math:
population of texas:
22,859,968
Percent Under 18:
28%: 6,332,212
Percent Female:
50%: 3,178,770
Total Cost of Program:
$1,271,507,996
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48000.htm
Ongoing costs would be about 1/18th of that per year.
Is that the best use of that money for public health? In other words, if Texas spent $1.2B could they achieve better results in some other area of public health?
"or the risk of the vaccination process"
Of course. Since this hasn't been implemented very widely, we're not sure what will happen. It's terrific the vaccine will save lives. But if it kills your daughter because of an adverse reaction, are you going to shrug and say "the good of the many..."?
"the fact that your daughter will have sex"
I hope she does, or else I won't be a grandparent.
"or that you're simply being forced to do something, regardless of the advantages or disadvantages to your family"
If the advantage is so overwhelming, why not give people the option? If you have to coerce people to get the vaccine, then people don't see the wonderful benefits you do. Maybe they really aren't there?
I'm not saying the vaccine is bad. But look at what's happened. A big drug company lobbies hard in Texas and then the state passes a law that every eligible citizen must take this drug. What's next? Nike lobbies Texas to force everyone to get running shoes because it will force everyone to get into shape?
The vaccine looks like a good idea, but the way it's being pushed it stinks. If I lived in Texas, I'd be outraged.