Governor orders STD Vaccine for all girls

As widely reported [1] across the news last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) has mandated that all 6th grade girls in Texas receive the controversial and expensive STD vaccine Gardasil that immunizes against a number of strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that can cause cervical cancer and genital warts.

Bypassing the Legislature, Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed an order Friday making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

By issuing an executive order, Perry apparently sidesteps opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents' rights groups who fear such a requirement would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way parents raise their children.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 will have to get Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

 Not surpisingly it has also turned up that Perry has quite a few connections with Merck [2], the maker of Gardasil.