Oppose

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms certainly supports efforts to promote women’s health and prevent the further ravages of cervical cancer, but we believe that the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine’s mandate is a violation of parental rights and may not even provide the long term benefits that medical researchers are hoping it will.

This bill would require the vaccination for public school attendance in New York. The problem is that HPV can only be contracted through intimate sexual, not casual, contact, whereas current law is designed to protect from the outbreaks of communicable diseases such as polio, measles and diphtheria. So why is this vaccination required as a prerequisite to entrance into the sixth grade when there is no immediate health concern for school-age children?

Second, testing has been administered in over 25,000 girls and women and early indications are that the vaccine poses only minor side effects, but there are still questions that need to be answered, such as:

• Is the vaccine truly safe for preteens considering the fact that Merck’s sample of preteens was significantly smaller than other ages studied?
• What possible interactions might there be with other medications (particularly in light of an ever increasing number of teens taking prescription drugs)?
• What are the long term effects of this vaccine?

Under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, vaccine makers are exempted from liability that may arise from medical complications involving mandated vaccines. Testing has simply not been conducted over a time frame broad enough to know all of the answers to these questions.

Moira Gaul, Director of Women's and Reproductive Health in the Center for Human Life and Bioethics at the Family Research Council reports:

The vaccine community in general has not advocated for mandatory immunization. The following medical professionals and organizations have voiced opposition to HPV vaccination mandates:  the Texas Medical Association; the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons; Dr Richard Zimmerman, M.D., former CDC ACIP member; Dr. Louis Cooper, M.D. past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics; and Dr. Keertie Shah, a virologist at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who has conducted important research linking HPV infection to cervical cancer.

Finally, who will pay for this mandate? The cost of the series of three shots is expected to be about $360.00. Some insurance companies will no doubt pay for the vaccinations, but others may not. This seems to be a hefty price passed on to families who may already not be able to afford health care coverage.

For these reasons NYCF stands opposed to the bill.