New Mexico is about to pass legislation making it compulsory for girls going into the sixth grade to be vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).
A spokesman for NM governor Bill Richardson said he will sign the bill, which was approved by the State House yesterday, when he receives it. The bill becomes law 90 days after the governor signs it.
HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that is known to cause 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases. Cervical cancer is the fifth leading global cause of cancer death in women; it kills about 250,000 women a year.
In the US every year there are 10,000 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths from cervical cancer.
Other states are also either considering introducing legislation to make it compulsory for pre-teen girls to receive the vaccination before they become sexually active, and/or making provisions in their budgets for a comprehensive voluntary programme for all girls from age 9.
The Virginia state legislature has passed a bill, which their Governor Timothy Kaine has also said he will sign. And in Massachusetts the governor’s budget proposals makes provisions for a voluntary programme for girls aged 9 onwards.
Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, issued an Executive Order, bypassing the state legislature, to make vaccination for girls entering 6th grade compulsory from September next year.
However, Perry’s move has generated a backlash by conservative, opposition, and some parent groups, who say this was too hasty and interferes with parents’ right to decide when their daughters should be introduced to interventions of a sexual nature. Others say that it compromises the state’s sex education policy of abstinence.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the State House debates a bill to overturn Perry’s mandate. If passed, the health authorities estimate than only 25 per cent of girls will come forward to be immunized.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that most of the women who have cervical cancer are in developing countries. In the US the majority of sufferers are poor or minority women who have missed the routine screening programmes that led to great reductions in the rest of the female population.
A recent report by health officials in Texas, titled Cervical Cancer in Texas, says that the cervical cancer rates in Texas are highest among Hispanic women, with death rates being highest in black females. Cases and deaths have higher rates in rural than in urban populations, says the report, which estimates an annual rate of 1,100 cases and nearly 400 deaths in the state.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus in the US and the majority of infections clear up on their own with carriers not even aware they have had it. The National Cervical Cancer Coalition (US) estimates that about 80 per cent of female Americans are infected by the time they reach the age of 50.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last June approved Merck’s 3-dose Gardasil for use as an HPV vaccine for girls and women from 9 to 26 years of age. Gardasil is so far the only HPV vaccine ready for market that has been approved. GlaxoSmithKline is also developing its own brand of cervical cancer vaccine, called Cervarix.
As well as protecting against HPV strains that cause 70 per cent of cervical cancers Gardasil protects against HPV strains that cause vulvar and vaginal cancers and genital warts. Removal of genital tumours and their associated lymph nodes can be painful and leaves ugly scars, which impairs women’s feelings about themselves and their sexuality, say some cancer experts.
Click here for National Cervical Cancer Coalition (US).
Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today