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Council Tentatively Backs Mandatory HPV Vaccine
Council member David Catania speaks on behalf of a bill, supported 7 to 3 by the council, requiring immunization with the HPV vaccine for D.C. schoolgirls.
(By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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To scattered applause from listeners in the council chambers, she urged that "an experimentation" not be allowed on children.
Her comments elicited a strong response from the bill's other co-sponsor, health committee chairman David A. Catania (I-At Large), who detailed the District's high incidence of cervical cancer and its impact on minority women.
"Rolling our eyes and twiddling our fingers is not going to make it better," Catania said. "We have got to get more aggressive."
After nearly a hour of discussion, Schwartz, Thomas and Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) voted against it. Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) abstained. Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) voted in favor after successfully offering an amendment for an extensive parent education program.
The human papillomavirus is transmitted by sexual contact, making it far different than the other diseases, easily spread in public settings, that are addressed by school immunization laws. Gardasil protects almost completely against two HPV strains that cause more than 70 percent of the 10,000 cervical cancer cases in the United States annually.
Although the vaccine, manufactured by Merck & Co., is approved for women up to 26, the federal government has recommended administering it to 11- and 12-year-old girls to ensure that they are protected before they become sexually active. Many medical organizations support that guideline. But few have gone further, saying the drug is too new, and public understanding and financial support not well enough established, to require girls to receive it.
To date, only Texas, through the executive order of Gov. Rick Perry (R), has mandated the HPV vaccine. Legislation passed in New Mexico awaits the signature of Gov. Bill Richardson (D).
Staff writer Lisa Rein contributed to this report.
