Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Rick Perry now says he erred in his 2007 executive order to vaccinate Texas girls against the virus that causes 70% of cervical cancer. He says he should have made the Gardasil vaccination program opt-in rather than opt-out.
Perry used to poke fun at critics who argued that vaccinating 12-year-old girls against a sexually transmitted disease would encourage promiscuity, noting that if there were a vaccine for lung cancer, nobody would say that the vaccine promoted smoking. Now he’s in full-on contrition mode.
In any event, the executive order was overruled by the state legislature, and no girl Texans were protected. But four years later, Perry’s attempt at decisive action against cancer remains a flashpoint in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
The New York Times succinctly explained why something as seemingly innocuous as a safe, effective vaccine against a cancer that kills 4000 U.S. women a year is such a powerful culture war touchstone:
The issue pushes many buttons with conservatives: overreach of government in health care decisions, suspicion that sex education leads to promiscuity and even the belief — debunked by science — that childhood vaccinations may be linked to mental disorders.
By that logic, you should never refrigerate leftovers because practicing “food safety” just promotes overreating. Just leave ‘em out and hope for the best. And if you get salmonella, well, decisions have consequences.
Rep. Michele Bachmann attacked Perry on the Gardasil order in the Republican debate on Monday. On Tuesday, she upped the ante, insinuating, falsely, that the vaccine causes mental retardation.
Symbolically, this fight is as much about the science as it is about sex. Bachmann is trying to cast doubt on Perry’s credentials as a cultural conservative by pointing out a case where he sided with mainstream scientists.
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