This week’s story comes from Texas where Governor Rick Perry, issued an order making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against HPV, the sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.
This Washington Post article gives a good overview. According to the new Texas order, “beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade – meaning, generally girls ages 11 and 12 – will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.” On the surface, this seems like a good idea. After all, this vaccine has the potential to wipe out HPV and prevent this type of cancer. There is a token provision where ultra-religious families can get out of it, if they legally prove the vaccine is against their religion/beliefs and get an affidavit. For the most part, a huge number of girls will have to get the vaccine, and behind California, Texas has by far the most school aged children. Despite the seemingly good intentions, there is something suspicious going on.
When I first heard about this, I found it strange because Texas traditionally isn’t the place you would expect groundbreaking public health advances. According to a comprehensive report on Texas the state ranks pretty low in many things, particularly issues dealing with women. For example, Texas ranks dead last in the U.S. in the percent of non-elderly women with health insurance. In addition, Gov. Perry is a pro-life, hardcore conservative Christian. Why would he create a measure that would piss off his base by acknowledging that *gasp* teenage girls are having sex? (By the way, Texas: 5th highest teenage birth rate) So naturally, some kind of alarm went off that something was up.
Every article on this order mentions that Merck, the pharmaceutical giant that produces this vaccine, has been heavily lobbying to pass state laws across the country mandating that 11-12 year old girls get their vaccine. It’s no coincidence that Merck would gain billions of dollars if Texas and other states require the $360-per-three-shot vaccine, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal. Oh, that’s something about the vaccine that people might miss: While this order sounds like it is just a matter of girls getting a shot, the reality is that Merck will get $360 for EVERY girl entering middle school in the state of Texas that receives the vaccine!! For the most part it will be the parents or guardians of the girls that would have to pay $360. The State would make the vaccine free to girls who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover vaccines, but for families that don’t qualify, this is yet another financial hardship for a lot of average families who would have to pay up. This is a massive victory for Merck who will currently have the only product on the market.
2+2=4 and the smoking gun: A reoccurring theme of my column is that lobbyists make pretty much everything happen in government, and pharmaceutical companies like Merck are well-oiled machines. Merck’s competitor is working on a similar vaccine, so they needed to get their product out there ASAP. According to the Washington Post article, “[Merck] doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.”
So how does Merck and lobbyists tie into Governor Perry’s executive order (which conveniently bypassed the legislature and voters)? One of Merck’s three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, who was Perry's former Chief of Staff! Meanwhile, the mother-in-law of Perry’s CURRENT chief of staff is Texas Congresswoman Dianne White Delisi, who also happens to be the state director for Women in Government, the group mentioned above! Keep in mind the role of a Chief of Staff is to be a top advisor and a “gatekeeper” to the governor. If those connections were not blatant enough, it was also revealed that Merck's political action committee contributed $6,000 to Perry and $38,000 to Texas state legislators last year. That may not sound like too much, but money is still money.
I’m not really questioning Perry’s concern about teenage girls, because honestly, Texas does need help with this issue since it is 47th in U.S. in the rate of women who receive Pap Smears and has the fifth highest cervical cancer rate. However, cervical cancer has been on the swift decline in the United States due to preventative care like regular exams. According to the American Cancer Society, only 3,670 American women are expected to die from cervical cancer this year, which is only 1% of the annual number of deaths from all cancers. Compare that to 40,460 women who are expected to die of breast cancer this year. (Rate of mammograms in Texas: 44th out of 50 states.) Even though the preventative health care and general social services systems in Texas are a joke, Governor Perry has created an executive order (that the Legislature has no authority to repeal), and given the drug companies a huge profit for minimal benefit. Who’s messing with Texas now?
Other articles found in the Baltimore Sun and the RCP Blog.
On an unrelated side note: Here’s a funny piece of news from the sports world: Last Sunday the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl. The Bears’ quarterback, Rex Grossman, had a couple of big mistakes in the game and this season has generally been dangerous to Chicagoans with heart conditions. If you follow football, this will be hilarious! If not, it is still ridiculous.
The day after the game, loudmouth talk-show host andoxycontin-addict Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show,and I quote “The media, the sports media, has got social concerns that they are first and foremost interested in, and they're dumping on this guy -- RexGrossman -- for one reason, folks, and that's because he is a white quarterback…They, they just want thisguy not to do well 'cause he's a white quarterback.” Okay, now that I’ve somewhat stopped laughing, I can’t even really come up with a response. According to Rush, the media is trying to go out of its way to dump on white Rex Grossman, and suck up to this Colts QB Payton Manning guy-- the highest paid player in the league and mediocre actor in commercials. Oh, but wait, Manning is a white Republican. The two Bears back-up QBs: Both also white. The only comparison I can make is if Rush said that the media was dumping on George Bush’s job as President and that people didn’t want to see Bush succeed because he was white. Although that’s mean because Grossman did a lot better than Bush. I guess Rush tried to later say that he was being sarcastic, but that’s hard to believe since he said it twice, and rambled on for a while.
Read thewhole transcript here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200702070012
Update 2-15-07
It turns out Nobel Prize Nominee (not kidding), Rush Limbaugh, was hissy about people calling him a dumbass over his comments so he claims that he was just trying to “tweak the media” and get a response. Of course, he didn’t claim he was tweaking the media until the next day. Alrighty, Rush. This article has some pretty funny actual quotes from Rush who claimed about his Grossman comments that “I'm the last person to see black or white, or sex. It's liberals that do this.” Yes, this is the guy who has said such gems as: “Why should Blacks be heard? They're 12% of the population. Who the hell cares?” or “Sexual harassment at this work station will not be reported. However, it will be graded!” In case you’re wondering why there are people who still blindly support Bush, keep in mind that millions of people listen to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show which is on 650 radio stations across the county.
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