Doctors say Texas governor's vaccine mandate for girls is premature
Feb. 7, 2007
Perry wants sixth-graders to be inoculated to ward off virus that causes cervical cancer.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry's order requiring schoolgirls to get inoculated against a sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer may be unpopular with social conservatives, but another important group also is lining up against it: doctors. The Texas Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics are among many doctors saying it's too early to mandate the vaccine, which was approved for use last June. It protects against four strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause 70 percent of cervical cancers.
