It's no secret that the pharmaceutical business within the United States has a history of being less than ethical. And this time around, freedom is coming at a price for a select minority. This latest development is part of a long history of the governing of women's health issues, particularly when it comes to reproductive and sexual rights. Effective as of August, if you're an 11-26 year-old female trying to become a U.S. citizen, it's mandatory to be vaccinated with Gardasil to prevent the human papilloma virus (HPV) as part of the usual health requirements.
Gardasil is still being called safe even though deaths (in addition to thousands of girls and women reporting unsavory side effects) have been reportedly linked to the vaccine. I've been wary of the Gardasil hype from the start, and the term 'guinea pig' comes up quite frequently in the conversation. HPV isn't even classified as a public health threat, yet is being treated as one by immigration laws. I've never been in favor of mandatory vaccination of girls within the public school system, a decision left within the hands of the states. But if U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has the gall to impose this discriminatory requirement for citizenship, next it will be for visas and green cards; and why not passports too?
There are currently 13 other vaccines required for citizenship, all of which protect against potential public health threats, which includes communicable diseases such as chickenpox and meningitis. Gardasil is the only vaccine required for a sexually transmitted infection. This 14th addition must also be paid for as an out of pocket expense by the girls and women who fall within the age bracket, upwards in costs of $1,400.
Merck, the purveyor of Gardasil, has been lobbying for the vaccination requirement for girls already within the United States. There is no doubt in my mind that it simply wants to make a quick couple million off of girls' safety. But Merck claims its hands are clean in the immigration requirement issue. But it doesn't plan to interfere either, and nothing less could be expected. Dr. Jon Abramson, chairman of the Center for Disease Control's Immunization Advisory Practices committee, advised against laws such as this as early as Feb. 2007 for the very reason that HPV poses no immediate health threat to the general public.
There is no way of knowing the future reproductive effects that this vaccine could have. Case in point: Diethylstibestrol (DES). In the 1940s and '50s, DES was given to women seen as being at risk of miscarriage. There were side effects on the children born to these women, with female children facing the most serious effects.
I just can't get over the fact that there is so much push for Gardasil, with ads targeting mothers rather than daughters. The advertisements disgust me, pushing mothers to make choices for their daughters on the advice from doctors rather than their own research.
Gardasil had a short research period and a shorter approval time by the FDA. Should the severe 'side effects' such as death increase and get more news exposure, perhaps all this shotgun law making will finally come to an end. But who knows what damage could be done by that point? Pharmaceuticals are taken off the market all the time - ones that have had longer approval and test stages than Gardasil. I have to ask, what if there was a male-only version of something like Gardasil? I highly doubt there would be a run in state governments to get boys vaccinated, or for it to become mandatory for male immigrants.
Children have become overmedicated in this country under the guise of behavioral disorders. It is lower class women who have been implanted with Depo-Provera in an effort to discourage the stereotypical "welfare queen." Vaccination in exchange for citizenship is not much different. In a country that prides itself on a public image of human rights advocacy, I have no choice but to question the motives at hand.
I just can't wrap my brain around why it is so hard to leave the decision over vaccination to the individual. If it isn't Merck getting its way next with its lobbying for the vaccination of all school-aged girls, then it will be visa and green card holders, and there are enough female students from abroad at the University of Massachusetts to know what a decision like that could mean for them. With all appearances pointing to government and pharmaceutical companies being in bed together, they're the ones in need of some protective measures.
Hannah Nelson is a Collegian columnist. She can be reached at hnelson@student.umass.edu.
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