EDITORIAL: Bachmann's comments on HPV vaccine maleficent, misguided
There are few more sensitive subjects in government than the balance between parents’ right to raise their children and society’s obligation to ensure proper care.
It was a wise move, then, for Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to question fellow candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry’s executive order requiring 12-year-old girls in his state to receive vaccinations of Gardasil against Human Papillomavirus, or HPV, at a debate Monday.
Superseding the state’s legislation for the matter was questionable, even if parents could have nixed it on an individual basis. It did not help that Perry had received a campaign contribution from the manufacturer of the vaccine, Merck. To be fair, the donation was for $5,000, fairly insignificant when compared to the $30 million he raised in total.
However, Bachmann’s statements against distributing the vaccine, which were made on the basis that the government has no right to enforce measures against STIs and that the drug may in fact cause mental retardation, were detestable.
Though HPV possesses no horrible symptoms on its own, it greatly increases the chance of developing cervical cancer among women.
This highly fatal affliction is worth doing something about. And if even Perry, who is a strict supporter of abstinence-only education in schools, believes potentially saving thousands of lives from the consequences of momentary indiscretions is worth the risks, that certainly says something.
Speaking of risks, Bachmann’s allegation that the drug could cause mental retardation was not based on scientific fact. A study undertaken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with almost 30,000 subjects found no indication that Gardasil is correlated with any form of mental retardation.
But let’s give Bachmann the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say an ideal female student does not receive the vaccination, because she is committed to remaining abstinent until her wedding day.
Eight years later she gets married to a faithful husband who tests negative for all STIs — you can’t be too careful.
But she might not know there’s no test for HPV in males.
And her husband, who fooled around a little in high school without a condom, has it and gives it to her.
The abstinent woman now has at least as high a risk for cervical cancer as a sexually active woman, all because she did not receive an injection in her arm when she was 12 years old.
So there remains only one question for Bachmann, whether or not one agrees with abstinence-only education: Why not protect our kids?
