Filed under: Conservatism, Election 2012, Freedom, Health Care, Politics | Tags: Governor Rick Perry, Merck's Guardasil, Rep. Michelle Bachman
Michelle Bachman ignited a firestorm in the Republican debate this last week. In 2007, Texas governor Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring sixth-grade girls be vaccinated against the Human papillomavirus (HPV), the cause of cervical cancer and of many other genital cancers in both men and women. Michelle Bachman claimed that “to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat-out-wrong” and “a violation of a liberty interest.”
Rick Perry has said in the past that he should not have done this with an executive order, but that he really hates cancer. There was opportunity for parents who objected to opt out. Bachman saw an opportunity to go after the front-runner, and not only overdid it, but pretty much ruined her campaign.
Bachman went on to accuse Gov. Perry of being a tool of Merck Pharmaceuticals, because he had received a political donation from Merck. Perry responded that the donation he had received from Merck was for $5,000 and if she was suggesting that he was for sale for $5,000 — he was offended. The Media, scenting some hot dissent, invited Bachman on assorted shows. She made the rounds of the talk shows claiming that after the debate she was approached by a woman in tears who told her that when her 12-year-old daughter received the Guardasil vaccination she became retarded.
We have a national problem with irresponsible people scaring the poorly informed about vaccines. The complaints about the Food and Drug Administration are usually about how long it takes to get a drug approved. They may be slow, but they do take care.
Let’s deal with some plain ordinary facts. According to the Center for Disease Control, a study that covered 83% of the U.S. population estimated that about 24,900 HPV-associated cancers occur each year. More than 17,300 HPV-associated cancers occur yearly in women and almost 7,600 occur yearly in men. These numbers may under-represent the actual number of cancers diagnosed during this time period. Not everyone who gets the virus gets cancer, but there is no way to get rid of the virus.
The vaccines are mostly effective (not perfect) but definitely don’t cause retardation, which is caused by a birth defect — not acquired suddenly at age 12. Whooping-cough is making a return because of scared parents refusing vaccinations for their children. California reported the highest number of cases of whooping-cough in 55 years. Vaccinations don’t cause autism either. For those who have been alarmed, there is plenty of information available at the Center for Disease Control website, or consult your doctor.
The Wall Street Journal wrote:
Opponents of mandatory vaccination include social conservatives who believe the vaccine will increase promiscuity, though we suspect watching MTV is a greater spur to teen sex. Opposition to state involvement in treatment decisions has more force: HPV is not casually communicable like polio or measles. Yet the executive order included a clause that allowed families to opt out for “reasons of conscience” or “to protect the right of parents to be the final authority on their children’s health care.” At a certain point, the distinction between “opt in” and “opt out” becomes academic when the violation of liberty is filling out minor paperwork.
The larger opportunity here is to eradicate a potentially terminal disease that has huge economic, social and other costs. Such progress is especially welcome when other government trends—the FDA’s cancer drug approvals, the eventual treatment restrictions inherent in national health care—are running in the opposite direction. …
The GOP critique of government in the age of Obama would be more credible if the party’s candidates did not equate trying to save lives with tyranny.
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Excellent! Perry was right, and Bachman is a loony.
Regarding whooping cough, I caught it in 2005, as a middle-aged adult. The doctors had no idea (they are not trained to recognize the symptoms in an adult, which differ from those in a young child), and it was only once many adults caught it that somebody bothered to start doing blood tests. Whooping cough is only a nuisance and not very serious for adults, but it can be very serious for babies. I hope I didn’t infect any.
Vaccination is a public good — i.e., the benefits accrue to the population as a whole, through reduced exposure to disease: one cannot easily exclude the beneficiaries. But it does have a cost, and requires that the vast majority of the population participate.
It makes an interesting litmus test for politicians, distinguishing the unthinking dogmatists from the realists who have to make the best of a tough decision.
Comment by Subsidy Eye September 17, 2011 @ 11:43 pmDid you catch it in this country? I thought that vaccination had made it rare here. It IS a killer for babies, which is why vaccination is urged so early. Perry should have explained the problem better, and gone through the legislature, as he admits now.
Vaccinating kids against a sexually transmitted disease is bound to upset many parents, and using that reluctance as a political weapon is just wrong. But I have read that Bachman has a real problem of making up facts and history as it suits the story she wants to tell.
There’s a huge chunk of national income spent on “alternative” medicine. Just listen to the commercials on the radio. We have a nearby store that sells nothing but supplements. If its “natural” it’s assumed to be fine. I wonder if we eliminated all the useless and/or ineffectual remedies—oh well, useless speculation.
Comment by The Elephant's Child September 18, 2011 @ 12:21 amWe have a national problem with irresponsible people scaring the poorly informed about vaccines
Yes, and one of them was Perry. His supporters are taking up the flag, too– I’ve seen far more flat ignorant “information” in the last week than I’m comfortable with.
Bachmann’s demagoguery is annoying– so is and was Perry’s. I’m not going to give Perry a pass just because Bachmann, who I disliked from the start for no bloody good reason, is acting the way my gut said she would. (manipulative, loose on the facts, and everything is personal) Bachmann doesn’t have much of a chance of being a threat, Perry does.
Look up the BS he pulled when the legislature objected to him using an executive order to mandate STD vaccination of girls when the vaccine is sold by a company with financial, political and personal ties to him.
For starters, an STD is not freaking polio, and objecting to mandated vaccination is not the same as the psycho lefty “vaccines are poison” stuff… lots of flatly incorrect claims about HPV, often conflating the various strains, lots of mangled statistics*, lots of appeal to authority that ignores that even the head of Texas’ medical association was against the mandate…..
* (possibly caused by folks reading a statistic, rephrasing it to what they thought it said, and someone else quoting them– usually a big dose of bias in there, since at least one case someone claimed that there was a 50% chance of sleeping with someone who was infected, then linked the actual stat…that estimated 50% would be infected at some point in their life, and only 1% are actually infected at the moment)
Comment by Foxfier September 18, 2011 @ 12:17 pm(On an aside– I actually favor the FDA’s power being reduced to an endorsement, along with a lot of gov’t licensing. Not going to happen, but oy am I tired of useful tools being unavailable because it’s possible to harm yourself if you don’t follow the directions.)
Comment by Foxfier September 18, 2011 @ 12:29 pmThere are parents who don’t want to face the fact that many 12 yr. old (or younger) girls are sexually active. Ms. Bachman’s ongoing reference to “innocent little girls” shows she may not be quite up to date on teen behavioral trends.
Comment by June C. (@NMJune) September 18, 2011 @ 1:02 pmNeutral evidence for “many”?
Comment by Foxfier September 18, 2011 @ 3:04 pm