Recently I have submitted posts regarding the executive order issued by Texas governor Rick Perry that mandated HPV vaccine Gardasil for teenage girls and on the Merck decision to pull back its lobbying program related to the same.
The New York Times recently produced an editorial in support of HPV vaccine state efforts to mandate the vaccine. But, as noted, the concept of mandating the vaccine has, for a number of reason, stirred controversy.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has been kind enough to provide a list of states that are considering HPV mandates, along with links to the legislation. It is quite an extensive set of states, including Arizona, Colorado, California, Connecticut, DC, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and of course, Texas, as well as Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
It is worth noting that some of the proposed legislation is to forbid mandating the vaccine, as well as bills that would require the mandate. In Maryland, legislation introduced to propose the mandate, as been withdrawn by its sponsor. Some of the states would require insurance coverage. Other variations, such as in Washington state, would include the provision of information to parents about the availability of the vaccine without mandating the vaccine itself while Utah would establish a measly $25,000 for an awareness campaign on the subject of HPV. How many people could you make aware with $25,000? That must be a typo.
Undoubtedly, there are many more chapters to this story.
