HPV
Flap Sparked
Vaccine Interest
By
Rhiannon Meyers
The Daily News
Published January 6, 2008
The Legislature last year
overrode a mandate from the governor that Texas schoolgirls be vaccinated
against the human papillomavirus. But that’s not stopping anyone from
getting the vaccine, local pediatricians say.
Without the state telling
them to, Texas women and girls are flocking to clinics to get vaccinated
against the sexually transmitted virus, usually called HPV. Since July, the
University of Texas Medical Branch pediatric clinics have been administering
about 60 doses a month, said Dr. Chris Turley, vice chair for clinical
services at the medical branch’s Pediatrics Department.
The political fight, it
seems, sparked interest in the vaccine that may not have been so popular
otherwise, some pediatricians say.
“It’s really kind of an
interesting thing — the controversy has really helped us get the word out,”
Turley said. “We really do have moms coming and asking for it. ... People
forget about the tetanus shot because it’s been around forever, but they
come in knowing about this and wanting it for
their daughters.”
Gov. Rick Perry is pleased
his February order to vaccinate all 11- and 12-year-old schoolgirls prompted
Texas families to talk about Gardasil, his spokeswoman said.
“As the numbers are
showing, many girls are being vaccinated, and the governor views that as a
positive result of generating this debate in Texas and throughout the
nation,” Krista Piferrer said.
Perry set off a political
furor last year by ordering that girls get the Gardasil shot, a
Merck-manufactured vaccine that protects against a handful of strains of HPV
that cause cervical cancer. Parents across the state weighed in. Some argued
the order was a potential lifesaver. Others said the mandate was a license
for children to engage in sexual activity.
The Legislature struck
down Perry’s order two months later with a law that blocked the state from
mandating the vaccine until 2011. Texas would have been the first state to
require the immunizations.
Since then, the Virginia
and New Jersey legislatures passed a school vaccine requirement, according
to the National Conference on State Legislatures.
Though Perry can’t legally
order the HPV vaccine for schoolgirls for at least three more years,
spokeswoman Piferrer said he hasn’t given up the fight.
“The governor still
believes this is a valuable tool to protect young girls against cancer,” she
said. “It’s not a fight that’s left him. He certainly still believes in the
value of vaccinating as many young girls as possible.”
Pediatricians have been
recommending the vaccine since it became publicly available. Turley, who
recommends Gardasil to all her girl patients, said only one family refused
the vaccine last year.
“Our patients here already
heard about it, and they came in knowing about it,” Turley said. “With new
vaccines, there’s usually a fair amount of time spent explaining it to
people. ... This is one you don’t have to explain.”
A year ago, medical branch
pediatrics professor Dr. Martin Myers thought it too premature to mandate a
vaccine when all the questions about Gardasil hadn’t been answered. He still
thanks so, he said.
He said unanswered
questions remain, such as: What sort of demand would it create on its
manufacturer? When, if ever, would it be approved for boys? Who would pay
the tab of about $360 for the three-shot series?
Still, there was a
“considerable interest in the vaccine” in 2007, said Jack Sims, immunization
branch manager of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
He did not have
information about how many Texans were vaccinated last year, but he said the
state was collecting that information for the first time in a survey to be
released this spring.
The Galveston County
Health District administered 768 doses of Gardasil last year, though the
district did not track the exact number of patients who were vaccinated,
said spokesman Kurt Koopmann. Proper vaccination requires three doses of
Gardasil in six months. The 768 doses don’t accurately depict how many were
vaccinated because, while some women and girls got all three shots, others
never finished the series, Koopmann said.
Though expensive, many
families opted to vaccinate their daughters because Gardasil is covered by
most private health insurance providers and by the federal Vaccines for
Children Program, which provides free immunizations to uninsured and
under-insured children.
The virus infects about 20
million people in the United States with 6.2 million new cases each year,
according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaccine has been a
no-brainer for Turley. That’s why she never really fretted the political
back-and-forth over Gardasil last year, she said.
“It didn’t matter what
played out on the political level,” she said. “When it’s your own family and
your own daughter, it didn’t matter what the politics were. The political
piece playing out on the state level was a separate issue from what happens
in my house.”
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
Office (409) 938-2211
Cell (409) 392-0007
