Parents Promoting Innocence
HPV Vaccine Information - State of Michigan
The Michigan Senate Health Policy Commitee voted to
mandate HPV vaccines for girls entering the 6th grade.  

The bills passed will force vaccination of 11 year-old
girls with a vaccine just approved by the FDA in
June 2006 known as Gardasil. The long-term
effects of this vaccine are not known. The many
questions regarding this vaccine make it premature
to mandate its forced use in 11-year-old girls.
The reality is that it will not be known for a decade if this vaccine is
having a positive effect on our population or if it will be a tragic
mistake that will affect hundreds of thousands of our citizens in a
negative way. And, it is costly.

Some facts:

  1. The only way to get HPV is by sexual contact, not casual
    contact.  HPV will not cause an epidemic in public places.
  2. Why are our legislators targeting 11 year-olds for a sexually
    transmitted disease? Current laws make it illegal for girls to
    have sex before the age of 16.
  3. The common Pap Smear is highly effective in detecting
    abnormalities that lead to cervical cancer. Gardasil vaccination
    does not eliminate the need for regular pap smears.
  4. Cervical cancer causes approximately one percent (0.77%) of
    all cancer deaths in America. Michigan deaths from cervical
    cancer are approx. 100 per year
  5. It takes between 8.1 and 12.6 years to develop cervical
    cancer. Merck testing of Gardasil was only 4 years among
    25,000 subjects, far less than the average time lapse needed
    to develop the cancer.
  6. The average age of a woman that develops cervical cancer is
    48 years of age. Will a vaccine administered at the age of 11
    be effective 37 years into the future?
  7. Of the more than 25,000 total individuals tested, less than
    2,000 girls aged 9 to 15 years were included in clinical trials.
  8. Actual costs for the HPV vaccine are running above the
    estimate of $360.00; some as high as $900 for the three shot
    series. In addition girls and women must have a pregnancy test
    before each vaccine per Merck recommendations against
    vaccinating pregnant women. Presumably this vaccine could
    be harmful to the unborn.
  9. Since boys are the “donors” of the HP Virus to the girls, how
    long will it be until a forced vaccination of boys will be enacted?
  10. Mandating of this vaccine is opposed by the American
    Academy of Pediatrics, the Texas Medical Association, the
    Catholic Medical Association, the Texas Catholic Bishops'
    Conference and  the National Catholic Bioethics Center.  www.
    zenit.org
  11. Just because medication is approved by the FDA it doesn’t
    mean it is safe for all persons.  Remember VIOXX.
  12. A group of 16-26 year olds were studied for side effects. In this
    age group, there are many short term side effects, as well as
    rare, but potentially long term auto-immune/arthritic problems.
    We will not know what complications result in younger girls who
    are vaccinated, unless these are reported via the Vaccine
    Adverse Events Reporting System.
Raising Kaine on HPV
From Family Research Council

Although headlines are rampant with the
suggestion that one in four women
(between the ages of 14 and 59) is
infected with HPV, the real shock of the
study, released in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, was
somewhat buried. Lost in the panic
surrounding the high HPV-infection rate
is a footnote that should cause even
greater concern for Gardasil advocates.
Only 3.4% of the women studied had an
infection that the new vaccine protects
against. While many are touting the
epidemic as justification for mandating
the shots, the reality is that Merck's
vaccine still leaves women vulnerable to
a significant number of HPV strains,
including those that cause 30% of the
cases of cervical cancer. This news
should give pause to Gov. Tim Kaine
(D-VA) as he considers whether or not to
sign a bill that would require the shots
for schoolgirls. In an interview, Kaine
said that he may try to amend the bill to
include a more "generous opt-out
provision" for parents. However, as FRC
has said all along, the burden should be
on the government--not parents--to
convince Americans about the need for
the vaccine. FRC is contacting Gov.
Kaine and asking him to reassess his
idea of expanding the opt-out criteria
and instead promote an opt-in measure
that would affirm parents' rights. In the
meantime, legislators should ponder the
greater cultural crisis of experimentation
and promiscuity that created the
epidemic in the first place. Along with the
option of vaccination, states should
educate children on an even better way
to fight HPV--abstinence and monogamy.

Additional Information: The HPV Vaccine &
School Mandates: Questions and Answers
MOM Testimony on HPV Vaccine Mandate
November 14, 2006
TO:  Members of the House Committee on Health Policy
RE:   Testimony offered for Senate Bill 1416 and 1417

On behalf of the members of Michigan Opposing Mandatory Vaccines ( M.O.M.), I am testifying in opposition to Senate Bills
1416 and 1417.

Briefly, M.O.M. was formed in late 1994 to preserve a parent's right to decline the use of vaccines as a method of health care
for themselves and their children.   M.O.M. is not "anti-vaccine".  We believe parents have the ultimate right and responsibility
to make vaccine choices for their children.   Most of our directors are health care professionals.  M.O.M.'s membership is
composed both of individuals who choose to have their children vaccinated and those who do not.

We oppose mandating the human pappillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for the following reasons:

The HPV vaccine should be optional for school entry.

Give parents and women information on HPV for review.   Let them decide what is best for their health situation.  

There are no long term studies on the HPV for its safety and effectiveness.   According to the Merck product manufacturer
insert for the HPV vaccine Gardasil, there was 1 case of juvenile arthritis, 2 cases of rheumatoid arthritis, 5 cases of arthritis,
and 1 case of reactive arthritis out of 11,813 Gardasil recipients plus 1 case of lupus and 2 cases of arthritis out of 9,701
participants primarily receiving an aluminum containing placebo. Clinical trial investigators dismissed most of the 102
Gardasil and placebo associated serious adverse events, including 17 deaths, occurring in the clinical trials as unrelated.    

Mandating the HPV vaccine was summed up by the National Vaccine Information Center in this way:   "There is too little long
term safety and efficacy data, especially in young girls, and too little labeling information on contraindications for the CDC to
recommend Gardasil for universal use, which is a signal for states to mandate it.   Nobody at Merck, the CDC or FDA know if
the injection of Gardasil into all pre-teen girls – especially simultaneously with hepatitis B vaccine – will make some of them
more likely to develop arthritis or other inflammatory autoimmune and brain disorders as teenagers and adults.   With
cervical cancer causing about one percent of all cancer deaths in American women due to routine pap screening, it was
inappropriate for the FDA to fast track Gardasil.   It is way too early to direct all young girls to get three doses of a vaccine that
has not been proven safe or effective in their age group."

The vaccine manufacturer cannot be sued directly if there is a subsequent injury.

A vaccine manufacturer becomes immune from liability once a vaccine is added to the list of mandated vaccinations.   If the
young girl suffers an injury or health problem, a claim must be filed through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation
Program.

It is discriminatory against women.

The HPV vaccine mandate will force only young adolescent girls to take a vaccine.

Rather than mandating the HPV Vaccine for 6th grade girls, M.O.M. asks that legislation be passed to require the Michigan
Department of Community Health to disseminate information about HPV to the parents of students attending public and
private schools.

A similar measure was passed in 2001 for meningococcal disease as a compromise to mandating a meningococcal vaccine
for college and high school students.   This legislation was introduced as House Bill No. 4562 by Representative Lauren Hager
and became Public Act No. 163 of 2001.

M.O.M. appreciates the health concerns about HPV and the efforts of our legislators are making.   We believe that parents
and women, with the help of their health care providers, can best determine the proper actions to take.  Making information
about HPV to parents through the schools would be an appropriate course of action.

Thank you.

Respectfully,
Suzanne M. Waltman
President, Michigan Opposing Mandatory Vaccines