Not Just 'the Christian Right' Opposed to Forced Vaccine
Feb. 6, 2007 — -- The press loves to simplify and dramatize public controversies involving religious conservatives, casting them as clear-cut battles between the ignorant and the enlightened, the superstitious and the rational, the moralistic and the tolerant.
It, therefore, comes as no surprise that "the Christian right" gets the blame for opposition to Friday's executive order by the Texas governor requiring the vaccination of schoolgirls against a sexually transmitted virus.
As The Associated Press reported, "Conservatives" worried that these vaccinations of children as young as 11 and 12 "would condone premarital sex." In truth, the sweeping, hasty decision by Republican Gov. Rick Perry (who personally identifies as a Christian conservative) raises far more complicated issues than attitudes toward teenaged (and preteen) sexuality, and deserves opposition from atheists as well as believers, libertarians and liberals as well as conservatives, and from all opponents of an intrusive, privacy-shattering nanny-state.
Seven months ago, the federal government approved Gardasil, a new vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States.
Research suggests that HPV may be responsible for up to 70 percent of the nation's cases of cervical cancer, leading to as many as 3,000 deaths each year. The new vaccine (heavily promoted by Merck, which stands to make up to $3 billion a year on the product) works best if administered to girls before they become sexually active.
The available information on Gardasil suggests that it's a good idea for girls to get vaccinated and confirms the argument that mass vaccination may save hundreds, perhaps even thousands of lives.
With my own two daughters, even though we encourage them to continue to avoid intercourse before marriage, we may also seek out the vaccine as a sensible protection. On this basis, the investment by the state of Texas in providing Gardasil (the three-shot regimen costs $360) at no charge seems justifiable, even though skeptics might argue that other health priorities deserve the investment first.
Michael Medved, best-selling author of "Right Turns" and "The Shadow Presidents," hosts a syndicated daily radio talk show focusing on the intersection of politics and pop culture. He blogs at http://michaelmedved.townhall.com/
Nevertheless, the policy of "mandatory" vaccination raises privacy and parental rights issues that go well beyond the state's implicit sanction of premarital, teenage sex through the protection of all 11- and 12-year-olds against some of its physiological risks.
To opt out of the HPV vaccines, parents must file an affidavit objecting to the vaccination on religious or philosophical grounds; otherwise, unvaccinated girls could be banned from school.
The governor chose to bypass the legislature on this decision, but he could have avoided all controversy and worked out a sensible compromise by providing free vaccines (at a cost estimated at $50 million) but giving parents the choice as to whether their daughters receive them.
Since HPV is only transmitted through sexual contact, an unvaccinated girl is only a danger to those who choose to get intimately involved with her.
Would Gov. Perry attempt to ban an HIV-positive teen from attending public high school, because of the risk that another student might engage in unprotected sex with that youngster and contract the virus?
If any public official attempted to keep kids with AIDS away from campus, activists and civil libertarians would howl. But who presents a greater risk -- an unvaccinated girl (who may well be committed to virginity) or an HIV-positive kid who is already sexually active?
The governor has bumblingly authorized the intrusion of brute government power into an area of private decision-making concerning the most intimate relationships in life. By overriding the concerns of religious organizations and parental-rights advocates, he has displayed the same sort of all-or-nothing absolutism that characterizes the big government left in the stem cell debate.
Given the moral reservations of tens of millions of Americans on using embryos for stem cell research, why not continue that research without government involvement or restriction, using abundantly available private funding?
Media accounts frequently characterize the opponents of federal funding as equating embryonic stem cell research as equivalent to murder, but most of those opponents (including the president of the United States) have never attempted to interfere with privately supported experiments.
The obvious and rational middle ground on the issue is to allow those who believe passionately in scientific exploration with embryonic stem cells to support it with their contributions, without forcing those who feel moral reservations about such research to back it with their tax dollars.
Michael Medved, best-selling author of "Right Turns" and "The Shadow Presidents," hosts a syndicated daily radio talk show focusing on the intersection of politics and pop culture. He blogs at http://michaelmedved.townhall.com/
By the same token, the right approach to the new vaccine against HPV involves freedom of choice.
A mandate that requires that all girls must be vaccinated is just as extreme as a refusal to allow the vaccination of any girls. The reasonable, fair position would allow state money (even lots of state money) to provide the vaccine for those families who want it, without forcing the protection on those who do not.
Human papilloma virus and cervical cancer hardly constitute sweeping, deadly pandemics that require emergency measures and stringent state policies.
In fact, the administration of the vaccine even may mislead many girls to think that they're now protected against the risks of premarital sexual activity when most of those dangers -- involving dozens of other potentially devastating STDs, pregnancy and serious emotional damage -- hardly disappear with three shots of Gardasil.
The surprise executive order by Texas Gov. Perry may leave no recourse for legislators or voters in his state, but one can only hope that reasoned but determined opposition will lead other state leaders to avoid his intemperate and ill-considered example.
Michael Medved, best-selling author of "Right Turns" and "The Shadow Presidents," hosts a syndicated daily radio talk show focusing on the intersection of politics and pop culture. He blogs at http://michaelmedved.townhall.com/