Texas governor orders HPV vaccinations for schoolgirls

HPV :: Texas governor orders HPV vaccinations for schoolgirls

Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed an order making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

Some conservatives and parents' rights groups worry that requiring girls to get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way they raise their children.

Pediatricians and gynecologists from Arizona to New York are refusing to stock Gardasil because of the $360 price tag for the three doses required and "totally inadequate" reimbursement from most insurers.

Girls jumping rope chant "one less, one less," in TV commercials for the new cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, vowing they will be one less cervical cancer patient.

Gardasil blocks infection by four common strains of human papilloma virus or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer many years after infection. HPV, which eventually infects over half of all sexually active people, also causes genital warts. Manufacturer Merck & Co. says Gardasil prevents 99 percent of infections by two HPV strains that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancer and two strains that cause most genital warts.