Photo: Mexico Health Ministry Announced Required HPV Vaccination for Young Girls
As the American media covers the debate going on between presidential candidates Gov. Rick Perry, who tried to require young girls in Texas to be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), and Michelle Bachman unfounded claims that the vaccine causes mental retardation, Mexico’s government is moving ahead with its plan to have all of its girls vaccinated.
The country’s health ministry made the announcement recently that starting in 2012, all Mexican girls will be vaccinated at the age of nine, though between 2008 and 2010, 1.25 million girls were already vaccinated. The human papillomavirus is said to be the leading cause of cervical cancer among Mexican woman though it affects women around the world. The leading cause of death of women in parts of southern Mexico is cervical cancer.
Many U.S. states are following Mexico’s lead and are considering requiring the vaccinations as well, though Gov. Perry’s 2007 attempt to do so failed, with his opponents said he had no right to cast such an executive order and should have consulted with the Texas Legislature first.
The Mexican government is not the only one with such a mandate, as 23 states filed similar mandates in 2006 and 2007.
