There are several things that seriously bother me about the Georgia Legislature. First and foremost, our Senators and Reps seem to believe that government is the source of our liberties. Of course, God is the source of our liberties and the purpose of government is to restrain itself and others so that these God given liberties are not infringed upon. One excellent example of this is seen with vaccines. It is almost unfathomable that today state governments are declaring what vaccines children should be given- mandatory vaccines- where the parent has no rights, no say, as to what their child is given. Unless of course, the parent thinks to protest for religious reasons, and even then it is iffy.
After giving birth to our 6th child at Northside, I was told that I could "fasttrack" out of the hospital and leave within 24 hours. I was very pleased with this option and the necessary paperwork was put through the works. One thing my nurse made clear to me was that the PKU prick test needed to be done before we left. I let her know that I would take care of it at the pediatrician's office the following week for this reason: The PKU test, as I understand it, tests for how the baby is responding to a breast milk diet. If the baby hasn't had breast milk for very long, the test is inaccurate and must be conducted again. The nurse was furious that I would refuse the test, and I said that I wasn't refusing the test, I was scheduling it for when it would do the most good. My pediatrician came to my room and encouraged me to have the test otherwise the nurse might call DFax. So, I did the test, and ruefully commented while signing the paper that clearly I didn't have any say about it so why should I sign. I also had to strenuously argue against having my daughter vaccinated, as I start vaccines much later in childhood. Fortunately, I was much more successful at the latter than the former.
I say all of the above as an introduction to Sue Ella Deadwyler's Radio commentary- I have cut and pasted it below...
Sue Ella Deadwyler's WMVV Radio Commentary, 3/2/07
Georgia's one of 18 states Merck thinks gullible enough to add still another vaccination to the shots children already have to take. Merck's new drug Gardasil is the most costly on the market at a whopping retail price of $360 for the first three-shot course and boosters at five-year intervals. Gardasil is supposed to prevent a couple of strains of cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus, better known as HPV, that causes about one percent of all cervical cancer cases in the U.S. HPV-related cervical cancer is easily diagnosed, responds well to treatment and does not surface until the female is almost 50 years old.
Merck's first success was in Texas where Governor Perry swallowed all Merck's hype and issued an executive order mandating Gardasil for every sixth-grade girl in Texas. Oh, yes, this is important, too. Merck contributed $6,000 to Governor Perry's reelection campaign and generously contributed to campaigns of other Texas officials.
Merck's success in Texas is being used in Georgia as an example of what needs to be done to our sixth-grade girls. Senator Don Balfour introduced S.B. 155 February 14 and I've asked him to please not make it mandatory, but it is. If his bill passes, the only girls that will not be vaccinated with Gardasil are girls whose parents learn about the religious exemption and act on it. Quite frankly, I'm offended that legislators think religion is the only reason to object to filling girls with a drug that's brand new, was researched for less than five years on 25,000 third-world females, only 1,184 of whom were preteens. My question is: What ever happened to common sense?
HPV is not floating through the air where everybody may be exposed. It's caught through sexual contact. So, the way to prevent HPV-related cervical cancer is to refrain from sexual contact with anyone infected with HPV and the last time I checked, sixth-grade girls aren't mature enough to engage in sex and are still under parental authority. Mandating this vaccine violates parental rights, informed consent and privacy laws.
Gardasil's safety has not been proven, especially for young girls. It's been on the market since June 2006 and at least 82 reports of serious side effects have already been filed with the FDA. Texas Governor Perry must've ignored the facts. So, Texas parents are working with legislators to repeal his executive order. The Texas mandate caused such a backlash from doctors, parents and consumer advocates that Merck's pulling back its lobbying efforts. But, that's not affecting us in Georgia. The author of S.B. 155 thinks Texas Governor Perry is right and will continue pushing for all sixth-grade girls in Georgia to be vaccinated with Gardasil.
I dare say most parents do not agree with Governor Perry and object to giving their children an unproven, unnecessary, very expensive and, very possibly, harmful drug. Call Health and Human Services Senator Don Thomas* at 404-656-6436 and ask him to either kill S.B. 155 or amend it to make the shots voluntary. If the state is dead set on selling Merck's drug, at least, give parents a choice because children do belong to parents. They don't belong to the state or doctors or anybody else in the village!
* This bill has since passed the HHS Committee. Call your local senator. If you don't know their phone number, you can look at www.legis.state.ga.us .
