[Ip-health] Merck’s Gardasil Is Required For US Immigrants

[Joana Ramos]

 From today's Pharmalot blog:


Merck’s Gardasil Is Required For US Immigrants
By Ed Silverman //  September 22nd, 2008 // 1:43 pm
Pharmalot
www.pharmalot.com

immigrantsThe debate over mandatory vaccination for the controversial
HPV vaccine has taken an interesting twist. As it turns out, the US
Department of Homeland Security is requiring girls and young women who
immigrate to the US to get the Gardasil jab, TheStreet.com reports.

And Homeland Security’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services is the
first government agency to mandate that all females ages 11 to 26 years
old be vaccinated against HPV, which can cause cervical cancer. Although
only one dose is required, compared with three doses Merck says is
needed for effectiveness. There is no requirement, by the way, for any
other visa holders or US citizens.

Since the policy was begun, an estimated 233,000 females ages 11 to 26
entered the US as prospective citizens and paid a combined $52 million
or so for one dose, based on the $223 cost for one treatment borne by
the typical UK emigrant and average numbers taken from the Department of
Homeland Security’s “Yearbook of Immigration Statistics” over a
four-year period, The Street writes.

( Link to The Street article:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10438114/1/us-requiring-controversial-vaccin=
e.html)

“I am stunned. It was not the intention of the policy to mandate
vaccination of immigrants,” John Abramson, who was chairman of the CDC’s
Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices when the requirement began
in April 2007, and an opponent of mandatory vaccination, tells the
Street. “This is not a disease that is communicable like SARS or
pandemic flu or even measles.”

More than 20 states backed down from plans, supported by Merck, to make
Gardasil mandatory. Parents and medical experts expressed concern about
safety, perceived encouragement of sexual activity by youngsters, and
effectiveness, TheStreet reminds us. Texas, for instance, rejected an
executive order to mandate vaccination, and Virginia and Washington, DC,
have opt-out clauses.

No opt-out provision exists for immigrants, TheStreet notes. The USCIS
enforces CDC vaccination guidelines prepared by the Division of Global
Migration and Quarantine, which refers to the Immigration and
Nationality Act, or INA, as the legislation requiring the
recommendations of the ACIP to be implemented. A Homeland Security
spokesman declined to comment to TheStreet.

The State Department’s form DS-3025, or “vaccination documentation
worksheet,” says vaccination against “Human Papillomavirus is required
for US immigrant visa applicants.” Here is the form.

Charlotte Haug, editor in chief of the influential Journal of the
Norwegian Medical Association, tells TheStreet “this is very surprising
and makes no sense. Whether this vaccine works is still being
discussed.” Ironically, Merck isn’t aware of the Homeland Security
policy, according to a Merck spokeswoman.


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Joana Ramos, MSW
Cancer Resources & Advocacy
Seattle WA USA
+1-206-229-2420
http://ramoslink.info/
www.bmtbasics.org
www.healthyskepticism.org