Who’s Behind It – Thoughts From The Middle of Nowhere

I would be real curious to know what is the driving force behind the push for States to mandate the new HPV vaccine. Is it truly the health and welfare of the children behind the push or is it the health and welfare of the company that makes the vaccine, Merck & Co, that is driving this? I ask because a Legislator in Montana is considering <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/02/10/news/state/35-legivaccine.txt">pushing for it to be mandatory</a> here in the state. The article states that the series of shots costs $360 but I noted on the local news the other day that they said the prices in Billings were $500 for the series of shots. Sounds to me like getting states to make it mandatory would really help the drug company out. n nDon't get me wrong, if there is a way to prevent cancer, that's a good deal to but if the state wants to make such an expensive shot mandatory, they should also pay for the shot. I know, the question becomes, can you afford the shot or can your child afford the cancer years down the road? Tough question to answer. I was vaguely ware there was a shot for cervical cancer but had never looked into it for my girls. The article states the shots should be administered by 11 to 12 years old and my girls are older than that now so I don't know if it would do them any good. n nThen the question becomes, by giving the shot to your kids, are you advocating a sexually promiscuous lifestyle? This whole HPV vaccine raises a lot of questions. The biggest to me is who is going to benefit the most out of it. The company or the people? n n The great benefit of monogamy is that you get to trust the person you're with and she gets to trust you. And so much comes out of that. So whether or not men and women were meant to be monogamous — and we can debate all the theories until we die — I know I gain something great from it. David Duchovny