JAMA   
October 19, 2011, Vol 306, No. 15, pp 1625-1723
http://jama.ama-assn.org/current.dtl

Commentaries
Mandatory HPV Vaccination and Political Debate
Lawrence O. Gostin
JAMA. 2011;306(15):1699-1700.Published online October 6, 2011. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1525

Extract
Vaccinations are among the most cost-effective and widely used public health interventions but have provoked popular resistance, with compulsory vaccination framed as an unwarranted state interference. When the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in 2006, conservative religious groups strongly opposed a mandate, arguing it would condone premarital sex and undermine parental rights. Yet Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order in 2007 making Texas the first state to enact a mandate—later revoked by the state legislature.

Mandatory HPV vaccination received additional attention during a recent debate among Republican presidential candidates. Michele Bachmann, US representative from Minnesota, Rick Santorum, former US senator from Pennsylvania, and Governor Perry had spirited exchanges about the executive order that Perry issued in 2007. Bachmann called the vaccine “a dangerous drug” and Santorum added, “There is no government purpose served for having little girls inoculated at the force and …