Vaccine Program To Start In Fall ; Parents, 5th Grade Girls Have Choice

Mar 19, 01:41 PM

Current Headlines: By OLIVIER UYTTEBROUCK Journal Staff Writer

New Mexico health officials plan to begin this fall giving fifth- grade girls a vaccine to protect against cervical cancer, which kills about 4,000 women in the U.S. each year.

Gov. Bill Richardson has promised to sign the measure into law. It was approved this week by legislators.

"The plan is for us to offer the vaccine routinely in the fifth grade, and that would be starting this fall," said Dr. Steve Jenison, medical director for infectious diseases with the state Department of Health.

Jenison and others said they weren't aware of any opposition to the vaccination program, which has drawn fire in Texas from conservatives and parents' rights groups, who say the vaccine would condone premarital sex.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed an executive order that requires the vaccination for all sixth-grade girls.

The New Mexico program would allow parents to reject the vaccination by signing a form.

"The bill makes it fairly easy for parents and a young woman to decide not to get the vaccine," Jenison said.

Health officials plan to use the vaccine Gardasil, which protects against four common strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, two of which are responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, health officials said.

Gardasil, manufactured by drug giant Merck, is the only approved vaccination. The vaccine is administered in three doses in a six- month period.

"This is the first vaccine we've had against cancer," said Jane McGrath, school health officer for the Department of Health. "It's a terrible disease, and if we can prevent it, that's terrific."

Health officials plan to work with school districts to develop a plan for administering the vaccine, McGrath said.

The measure requires that "no female student entering the sixth grade shall be admitted" to a public or private school unless the student either has received the vaccine or "her parent or guardian has elected for her not to receive the vaccine."

Bill sponsor Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Albuquerque, said the voluntary nature of the program is a key element of his measure.

"I think it's a good vaccine, and the important thing is that it is not mandatory," said Komadina, an Albuquerque gynecologist. Komadina said he has given the vaccine at his office since last fall.

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