H.B. 1098, the bill passing the Texas House on March 14, "would
prohibit requiring immunization against human papilloma virus
(HPV) as a condition for admission to any elementary or secondary
school. All contrary executive orders of the governor would
be preempted by the bill."
This was the latest episode in a saga that began on February
2, when Governor Rick Perry issued an executive order making
Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls as young as
11 get vaccinated against four strains of the sexually transmitted
HPV that cause cervical cancer.
The governor's action came under heavy fire from parents' groups,
who feared that the mandatory vaccination would give schoolgirls
a false sense of security and encourage promiscuity at earlier
ages.
A conflict of interest on the governor's part had also been
raised in a January 31 AP article by Liz Austin Peterson, who
noted: "A top official from Merck's vaccine division sits
on Women in Government's business council, and many of the bills
around the country have been introduced by members of Women
in Government."
Merck & Co. is Gardasil's manufacturer and some of the
company's efforts to promote the drug, which will earn the mega-corporation
a projected $1 billion next year, stirred passionate controversy.
The drug giant is also well connected politically, having a
corporate membership in the elitist, New York-based Council
on Foreign Relations, of which Vice President Dick Cheney and
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are prominent members.
The 118 votes for the bill represent a veto-proof majority,
if the measure passes the senate in similar proportions.
Representative Dennis Bonnen, Republican of Angleton, who was
the primary author of H.B. 1098, said his bill "will not
take away the option for a single girl or a single family in
this state to choose to vaccinate a child. It simply says a
family must make that choice, not a state government."
Bonnen's statement squares more evenly with the legendary Texas
spirit of individual self-reliance than does the governor's
paternalistic executive order, making one wonder if Perry has
spent too much time in the People's Republic of Austin, and
has become out of touch with most voters in the Lone Star State.
Next thing you know, Perry will be buying salsa from New York
City!
