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It was an unlikely reason for Gov. Rick Perry’s unraveling in the debates Monday night.  But, there is no doubt that his defense of a state edict he issued as Governor of Texas requiring girls be vaccinated against HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that is believed to cause some cervical cancers, hurt him.  While the Tea Party claims it does not veer into social terrority, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum, saw an opportunity to ignite social conservatives.  Bachmann argued that the government had no business usurping parents’ roles in deciding whether their eleven year old daughters should get the still new, and in conservative circles controversial, Gardasil vaccine.  Santorum went so far as to say that unless Texas schools present a higher than average risk for sexually transmitted diseases to be transmitted at school, he saw no need for this to be part of the battery of vaccinations required to enter school.  Unlike measles and chicken pox, he argued the transmission risk is low in that setting.  But the real hurt came when Bachmann accused him of passing the law at the behest of pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck, who according to the Daily Beast contributed more than 29,000 to Perry’s campaign. Perry’s response to Bachmann in the debate was, “I’m not a cheap date.  I raised 30 million dollars. I’m offended that you think I can be bought for $5,000.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/politics/republican-candidates-battle-over-hpv-vaccine.html?_r=1&ref=health&gwh=0135C9F7ACF607E757BE9911DA013D69

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/13/rick-perry-now-says-hpv-vaccine-campaign-was-mistake-not-political-payoff.html

http://news.injuryboard.com/academics-say-gardasil-should-not-be-mandatory.aspx?googleid=251372