Virginia Considers Requiring Girls to Get HPV Vaccine

Virginia Considers Requiring Girls to Get HPV Vaccine

On Tuesday, Virginia's House Committee on Health is scheduled to hear a bill that would require girls to undergo human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination before entering middle school. The bill's sponsor, Del. Phillip Hamilton (R-Newport News), said parents who object to the program could have their children exempted from the requirement for medical or religious reasons.

Hamilton said pharmaceutical representatives talked with him about submitting the bill, HB1914, because he chairs the committee. Merck & Co. manufactures the only US-approved HPV vaccine, Gardasil.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends the vaccine for adolescents and young women. But requiring the vaccine, which costs about $360, is premature, said Dr. Joseph Bocchini, AAP's infectious-disease committee chair. Parents need to be properly educated about the vaccine, and girls and women of all income brackets should be able to access the immunization, which some insurers do not cover, he added.

A pediatrician with Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters (CHKD) said about half of parents of girls 13 and older want to have them immunized against HPV. But families of girls ages 9-13 are less receptive, said Dr. Dominique Barkley. The CHKD affiliate in Chesapeake administers about 60 HPV shots a month, she said.

The bill would require proof that middle school girls have had at least the first dose of the three-injection HPV vaccine.

Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) (01.18.07):: Elizabeth Simpson