HPV Vaccine: Mandatory?

[Munchkin03]

Yeah, I got the prescription too, but I'm not getting it unless I get a favorable second opinion.

I've heard that Merck is really pushing states to require it--because if there's ever a recall or problems with it, the fact that it would be governmentally mandated would relieve Merck of any liability. Cervical cancer isn't a major health issue here as it is in developing nations--where it's the cancer with the highest mortality rate. Also, the cervical cancer rate has been declining so much. So, I don't understand why this is such a major deal with states.

On the Gardasil fact sheet my doctor gave me, they said that there would be more research done on women over 27 and men.

[UGAalum94]

I have mixed feelings.

One the one hand, because we as individuals typically don't pay full cost for our health care (in some cases because we're in an employment pool for insurance, in others because we're government employees for whom health care is paid like the military, or in others because we get public assistance because we're poor), it seems a little bit like the agents of the state can/should require that we take actions that will limit our health risks and health cost down the road.

On the other hand, requiring this vaccination of sixth or seventh graders to enroll in public schools, which is what I think the Texas governor just did, seems like gross interference in private individuals' lives.

In the other cases that I can think of, required vaccinations are for diseases that are transmitted through casual contact. (As far as I know, hepatitis vaccines are recommended but not required, right?) It's hard for me to see the compelling reason for the state to require this vaccine for school. For enrollment in insurance coverage, sure. As a condition of receiving public health services, sure. But to attend middle school, I don't think so.

ETA: my guess is that in women over 27, the assumption is partially that you're fairly likely to have already been exposed to the virus. Isn't the stat something like one in four college aged people?

I googled HPV rates and found this: "According to a 1997 American Journal of Medicine article, nearly three in four Americans between the ages of 15 and 49 have been infected with genital HPV at some point in their life."