HOUSTON — When Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered that all of the state's middle-school-aged girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, the backlash was swift and sure.
Critics argued that the executive order promoted promiscuity, trampled on parental rights and subjected children to a new vaccine with unknown long-term effects.
Texas lawmakers, unhappy that Perry sidestepped their authority, pushed a bill through committee that would rescind the mandate. Cosigned by 90 of 150 members of the state House of Representatives, it is all but certain to pass.
And on Friday, the unidentified parents of three Texas girls sued Perry for overstepping his authority and illegally requiring the vaccine for preteens.
The hullabaloo is a setback for public health advocates in Texas, which with Perry's Feb. 2 order became the first state to require the vaccine for school admission, beginning in 2008.
But measures introduced by lawmakers in at least 31 states also have triggered negative fallout, said James Colgrove, a medical historian at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
"I would be surprised to see a lot of bills passed in the coming year," Colgrove said of legislation requiring the vaccine. "The majority public health opinion is we really should be moving a little slower than this."
The vaccine, called Gardasil, protects women against two strains of the human papillomavirus that cause 70% of cervical cancers. At $360 for a series of three shots, it is the most expensive vaccine yet. Medicaid and the federal Vaccines for Children Program will help cover costs. Large private insurers are also expected to pay for the vaccine.
Legislators in Michigan, the first state to introduce bills on the vaccine last fall, narrowly defeated legislation mandating HPV vaccinations in December. A Maryland bill was withdrawn last month over concerns that children have trouble getting the shots already required.
Virginia legislators have passed a bill mandating the vaccine, but Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, hasn't decided whether to sign it.
In California, a bill that would require school girls to get the shots has not been assigned to a committee. Assemblyman Ed Hernandez (D-Baldwin Park), lead author of the bill, said the uproar in Texas hadn't diminished his support for mandating the vaccinations.
