Merck is looking out for you?
Gov Perry’s mandating the HPV vaccine, Gardisil, for all incoming sixth graders, a seemingly progressive issue on it’s face, until you look at some of the hidden strings.
Now, I consider myself pretty progressive for the most part, but I’m not too keen on jumping on this vaccine’s bandwagon. Lucky for me, my daughter is many years away from the mandated age, so it’s not a pressing issue. But if she were 11, I sure as heck wouldn’t be thrilled to be forced to give her a brand new vaccine. Don’t misunderstand, on its face, the vaccine seems like a fantastic thing. Who doesn’t want to do every safe thing they can to avoid cancer, especially in their daughters? But, let’s be realistic. This is a relatively new medicine—we don’t know what, if any, the far-reaching side-effects may be. I mean, people thought Vioxx was a life-saver, until it turned out to be a life-killer. How do we know the same thing won’t happen with Gardasil? They’re both from Merck, and frankly, I just don’t trust Big Pharma. In fact, Merck is hoping the vaccine will help them out of the financial hole that Vioxx dug for them. It’s $360 price tag certainly would generate a lot of revenue if insurance companies were forced to pay for every girls vaccine. Then think about how much money that would be if all the states mandated the vaccine! Jackpot! You know they’re thinking this.
Of course, the biggest, loudest opponents to this new mandate is Perry’s own religious conservatives. They think (at least, I think they think) that this vaccine will encourage young girls to be sexually active. Cuz, you know, middle schoolers are soooo afraid of catching cervical cancer. “Whoopee! Now I can have sex and not get cancer!” I think it’s just a smoke screen so people don’t look too closely at Perry’s political connections to Merck. According to this article on msnbc.com:
Merck really does stand to make millions. I don’t know, call me cynical, but I just don’t believe their in it for the good of the people.
Now, I consider myself pretty progressive for the most part, but I’m not too keen on jumping on this vaccine’s bandwagon. Lucky for me, my daughter is many years away from the mandated age, so it’s not a pressing issue. But if she were 11, I sure as heck wouldn’t be thrilled to be forced to give her a brand new vaccine. Don’t misunderstand, on its face, the vaccine seems like a fantastic thing. Who doesn’t want to do every safe thing they can to avoid cancer, especially in their daughters? But, let’s be realistic. This is a relatively new medicine—we don’t know what, if any, the far-reaching side-effects may be. I mean, people thought Vioxx was a life-saver, until it turned out to be a life-killer. How do we know the same thing won’t happen with Gardasil? They’re both from Merck, and frankly, I just don’t trust Big Pharma. In fact, Merck is hoping the vaccine will help them out of the financial hole that Vioxx dug for them. It’s $360 price tag certainly would generate a lot of revenue if insurance companies were forced to pay for every girls vaccine. Then think about how much money that would be if all the states mandated the vaccine! Jackpot! You know they’re thinking this.
Of course, the biggest, loudest opponents to this new mandate is Perry’s own religious conservatives. They think (at least, I think they think) that this vaccine will encourage young girls to be sexually active. Cuz, you know, middle schoolers are soooo afraid of catching cervical cancer. “Whoopee! Now I can have sex and not get cancer!” I think it’s just a smoke screen so people don’t look too closely at Perry’s political connections to Merck. According to this article on msnbc.com:
“Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company’s three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff. His current chief of staff’s mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.”
Merck really does stand to make millions. I don’t know, call me cynical, but I just don’t believe their in it for the good of the people.
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