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Merck Suspends Lobbying for Vaccine
Legislatures in roughly 20 states have introduced measures that would mandate girls have the vaccine to attend school, but none has passed so far. However, Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Feb. 2 issued an executive order requiring Texas girls entering the sixth grade as of 2008 get the vaccinations, triggering protests from lawmakers in that state. Parents there could opt out for their daughters if they state religious or philosophical objections, but several Texas lawmakers want to have parents opt in instead of opting out.
Perry defended his order Tuesday, a day after lawmakers in Austin held a lengthy hearing on the issue but failed to act on a bill to override the order.
  An employee walks past a stained-glass window, bearing Merck & Co.'s name, as he walks to the elevator at the company's headquarters in a Whitehouse Station, N.J. file photo from Sept. 30, 2004. Merck & Co., bowing to pressure from parents and medical groups, is immediately suspending its lobbying campaign to persuade state legislatures to mandate that adolescent girls get the company's new vaccine against cervical cancer as a requirement for school attendance. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer, File) (Daniel Hulshizer - AP) |
Dr. Anne Francis, who chairs an American Academy of Pediatrics committee that advocates for better insurer reimbursement on vaccines, called Merck's change of heart "a good move for the public."
"I believe that their timing was a little bit premature," she said, "so soon after (Gardasil's) release, before we have a picture of whether there are going to be any untoward side effects."
Given that the country has been "burned" by some drugs whose serious side effects emerged only after they were in wide use, including Merck's withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, Francis said, it would be better to wait awhile before mandating Gardasil usage.
She said she also was concerned about requiring a vaccine for a disease that is not communicable and so does not have a big public health impact. While doctors expect Gardasil to have a huge effect in poor countries where women do not get Pap smears, in this country those tests limit the incidence of cervical cancer to about 9,710 new cases and 3,700 deaths each year.
The National Vaccine Information Center has been publicizing reports of side effects _ mostly dizziness and fainting _ in several dozen people getting Gardasil, which is approved for use in females ages 9 to 26. The center, a group of parents worried that vaccines harm some children, questions whether the vaccine was tested in enough young girls.
Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, say that reports of side effects through the end of January don't raise any red flags.
The vaccine also is controversial because of its price _ $360 for the three doses required over a six-month stretch. Because of that cost and what pediatricians and gynecologists say is inadequate reimbursement by insurers, many are choosing not to stock the vaccine or requiring surcharges to administer it, increasing the cost for many families and making the vaccine hard to come by.
Merck shares fell 37 cents to $44.13 in after-hours trading Tuesday after rising 22 cents to close at $44.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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