It appears that the Texas Legislature has managed to get its act together about something. The general publics concern about Gov. Perry's executive order to require the Gardasil anti-cervical cancer vaccine has prompted the legislature to pass legislation that blocks the requirement for at least 4 years. And the interesting part? They passed with the necessary majority in both houses to override any veto. As it currently stands, Perry's not talking about whether or not he'll veto. More details on the actions in the link below.

Now, for my thoughts on the vaccine itself. As the father of a daughter, something like this strikes near to my heart. I'd love to have something in place to prevent harm from coming to my sweet, little angel. On the surface, any chance to prevent something harmful from attacking our womenfolk is a good thing. Having said that, the lack of details and testing, accompanied with the in-your-face aspect of all the advertising on TV and Radio (we're being bombarded with them currently, here in VA), scares me. While some testing has been done, we don't know the long term effects of this vaccine. Will it end up causing other, unforeseen (but easily foreseeable) problems that are worse than the one being prevented? That thought scares me.

A chance for more testing and information, before these become requirements will benefit everyone. Except maybe Merck's bottom line. They can just suck it up and wait.

Comments
on Apr 26, 2007
That's what scares me about Tim "Ted Matthews" Kaine.  He is going to kill us to save us.  What a buffoon.
on Apr 26, 2007
i don't think a lack of testing is the problem. tho, i due agree with you that this "mandatory" move in texas by perry's "executive order" was wrong. it's obvious that he tried to slip this into law without any challenge.

from what i read, it is more about trying to help out their buddies at places like merck and pfizer. big drug companies that cannot maintain their size with slow sales of a new drug. by getting governors to mandate the shots (which are about 360 bucks per 3 doses as far as cost to taxpayers) they might not have to continue downsizing their salesforce like they have been overthe last decade. the perscription drug plan passed by the GOP served the same purpose.

this isn't the 1st place i heard about this, but this guy sums it up in a pretty well written "letter" here....

Link

on Apr 26, 2007

it is more about trying to help out their buddies at places like merck and pfizer

So what is Tim Kaine's excuse?

on Apr 26, 2007
So what is Tim Kaine's excuse?


corruption isn't exclusive to any party. bribing or corrupting 1 official who can "executive order" something past the legislature is certainly a lot easier and cheaper than trying to buy the legislative votes one at a time.
on Apr 27, 2007
Chaos,

As to its availability, it is not being banned. Parents are simply given the CHOICE, which is as it should be.

No mixed feelings here. When my daughters are older they will be informed about the vaccine, and it will be their choice to make. It won't be the state of Texas'.