Local News
Flynn criticizes Perry over STD vaccine
State Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van), is upset with a decision by Gov. Rick Perry to issue an executive order requiring schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.
In a statement released Friday, within hours of Perry issuing the order, Flynn said he did not agree with the mandate, which he claimed was an effort to circumvent the Legislature.
“Not only does this limit a parent’s role in making decisions for their families, but the action was never put up for a vote in the Legislature,” Flynn, who represents Hunt, Rains and Van Zandt counties, said.
Perry’s order directs the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules requiring all girls 11 and 12 years of age to receive the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prior to entering the sixth grade, effective in September, 2008.
Perry also directed state health authorities to make the vaccine available free to girls 9 to 18 who are uninsured, enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program or whose insurance does not cover vaccines. In addition, he ordered that Medicaid offer Gardasil to women ages 19 to 21.
Flynn said the idea of administering the vaccine was not what bothered him, as a bill addressing the issue had already been filed with both the House and Senate. If passed, the bill would also have required all girls entering the sixth grade to receive the vaccination against HPV, which Flynn noted is a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
“I believe that the issue of mandated STD vaccinations should have been put through the legislative process, at the very least,” Flynn said, noting lawmakers were just beginning to bring the issue to their constituents.
“This issue is a very sensitive one; a concern of parents and the health community alike,” Flynn said. “I believe it is a parent’s role, not the government’s, to decide when their child is ready to learn about sexually transmitted diseases.”
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