CDC ends HPV vaccination requirement for immigrant women

In July 2008, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) implemented a mandate that immigrant women ages 11 to 26 who were seeking permanent resident status, must get the HPV vaccine. The mandate was considered discriminatory because it is costly and gender specific. Also, there isn't currently any requirement that American women must get the vaccine, so why should women seeking citizenship be required?

Well the CDC decided that effective December 14th, young women who are seeking legal permanent resident status in the United States will no longer be required to be vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The Federal Register notes,"while HPV may be an age appropriate vaccine for an immigrant applicant, HPV neither causes outbreaks nor is it associated with outbreaks...Further, HPV has not been eliminated, nor is in the process of elimination, in the United States. Therefore, because HPV does not meet the adopted criteria, it will not be a required vaccine for immigrant and adjustment of status to permanent residence applicants."

It's about time! Immigrant Rights and other social justice organizations have actively opposed the mandate and have organized against it since it became policy last year. The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, have been leaders in insisting that the HPV vaccine mandate be repealed. It was another giant barrier on the already path to legal immigration.

HPV Vaccination Immigration Requirement Rescinded

Effective December 14th, young women who are seeking legal permanent resident status in the United States will no longer be required to be vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). According to the Federal Register, "while HPV may be an age appropriate vaccine for an immigrant applicant, HPV neither causes outbreaks nor is it associated with outbreaks...Further, HPV has not been eliminated, nor is in the process of elimination, in the United States. Therefore, because HPV does not meet the adopted criteria, it will not be a required vaccine for immigrant and adjustment of status to permanent residence applicants."

The requirement was originally implemented in July 2008 and was mandated by the Federal Immigration Authorities. It applied to immigrant women ages 11 to 26 who were seeking permanent resident status. Women's and immigrant rights groups argued that the requirement, which is gender-specific and costly, is discriminatory.

After the announcement Friday, Rocio Cordoba, Executive Director of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, said in a statement, "We commend the CDC for recognizing that all women and girls--regardless of their immigration status--must be treated with dignity in the context of any medical procedure, including the HPV vaccine. As reproductive justice advocates, we strive to ensure that women and communities have valuable information, coupled with the resources and power to make well-informed and uncoerced decisions about their bodies."

California Latinas for Reproductive Justice worked in coalition with the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health to work against the requirement. Additionally, more than 140 related organizations signed on to a letter against the requirement sent to Center for Disease Control Director Thomas Friedan, MD.

Source: Feminist News

Image Credit: Sarah G... on flickr.com

HPV For Boys

The CDC gave Gardasil, the vaccine against HPV, a "permissive" recommendation for men and young boys. This means that the vaccine is okay to sell, but it isn't recommended for all men.

Why? A CDC economist argued that it would be more cost-effective to improve accessibility for young women rather than extend the vaccine to young men.

The argument is that if girls are vaccinated, boys won't have anything to catch or transmit. Why should men bear any responsibility when women can do it for them? It's not like women have any obstacles to obtaining health care.

Furthemore, Dan Savage makes a decent point when he says:

"But if you want to vaccinate gay men against HPV—because women can't do it for us—you have to vaccinate gay men well before we become sexually active, same as girls. Age 11, remember? And since we don't know at age 11 which boys are going to be gay when they grow up, you have to vaccinate all boys against HPV in order to protect the ones who are going to be gay when they grow up. It seems like a no-brainer and a win-win: vaccinating all boys against HPV will protect the gays ones—gay men are 17 times more likely to develop anal cancer as adults—and help protect girls and women from the deadlier strains of HPV. It would also offer some protection to girls whose parents denied them the vaccine for... religious reasons. That's a win-win-win."

More broadly, any man that doesn't have sex exclusively with HPV-vaccinated women is at risk. It's ridiculous that the CDC didn't let this fact influence their decision.

Image courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/euthman/

FDA recommends HPV vaccine for boys

An advisory committee of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending that the HPV vaccine Gardasil be made available for young men. Originally approved for young women in 2006, Gardasil was created as a prevention and protection against contracting certain strains of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) that lead to cervical cancer, according to WebMD.

HPV is the most common STI and, according to the American Social Health Association, infects 75% of sexually active women and men in their lifetime; women and men. As HPV does not only affect women, it will be an important step towards global sexual health to make available the vaccine to the entire population, not just women.

Anna Giuliano, an independent scientist at Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, and the trials' principal investigator, said that results from the global study have shown a 90 percent reduction in HPV and related diseases in the 5,400 male subjects, as reported to CNN.


By expanding Gardasil’s impact on the reduction of HPV and related diseases to include men, the vaccine will no longer be just one of the most important advances in women’s health care, but basic health care as well.

Sex & Hypocrisy

We've all witnessed more than our fair share of the rhetoric surrounding the HPV shot and its fantastic potential to lead young women and girls to sexual promiscuity.... Boo.

If, in our ever-puritanical society, sexuality is still considered BAD (dirty, sinful, et al.), one might assume that the same uproar would ensue when it was announced that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) decided to consider "promoting routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States to reduce the spread of HIV...."

Such an uproar has yet to be heard. As blogger KJ Dell'Antonia has noted, "If both procedures might make unprotected sex marginally safer, why is the conversation so different?" I am certainly glad to see the general public in support of taking all measures within our realm to reduce/prevent any STI--my concern lies in the fact that "we" are only ok with it if it directly affects men.

If circumcision can help prevent boys and men from contracting HIV/AIDS by up to 50%, GREAT! If a vaccine can help girls and women reduce the risks of multiple types of HPV that may lead to cancer, PHENOMENAL! Why on earth aren't we doing everything in our power to protect ALL of us?!?

Why do we talk about protecting our daughters and sons from chicken pox, from H1N1, from scraped knees and busted lips...but we refuse to offer equal protection when it comes to one of the most natural inclinations of human nature: SEX!

What do we do about the double standard? How can we get beyond it and actually protect ourselves?

Photo courtesy of flickr.com/Zitona

HPV Vaccine Encouraged in DC Public Schools

I love dcist.com for its local reporting on issues that matter! In today's Morning Roundup I was pleased to see:

Girls at District Schools Urged to Get HPV Vaccine: The Post reports that girls entering the sixth grade in District schools are being encouraged to get a vaccine against HPV, which can cause cervical cancer. The vaccine, which was approved by the FDA in 2006, remains controversial, with some opponents arguing that it has not been tested enough and others claiming that it would encourage schoolgirls to have sex earlier. In both the District and Virginia, parents can opt out of having their daughters vaccinated; the District abandoned a plan to make the vaccine mandatory a few years ago.

Feminist Wish List

By Shelby Knox

Yesterday on the Huffington Post, FMF President Ellie Smeal outlined President Obama’s strides for women during his first 100 days in office, concluding, “the work President Obama and his team have accomplished for women and girls in the first 100 days is impressive.”

Indeed it is. As young women we have President Obama to thank for cheaper birth control and EC over the counter for 17-year-olds, as well as stronger equal pay protections and the new White House Council for Women and Girls.

Yet, as President Obama said last night during his address on his first 100 days in office, this is only the start. Since gratitude never radicalized anyone and there is always something more to fight for, here’s my young feminist activist wish list for President Obama’s next 100 days:

Eliminate funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The federal government has put over a billion dollars into convincing teens to remain virgins until marriage, using programs that often contain inaccurate information about condoms and contraception, biases about gender and sexuality, and religious messaging. Much of this money is handed out to tax-exempt fake clinics that pose as real health centers for the sole purpose of convincing women they will regret abortion. It’s time to put science above ideology and give young people the information they need to make responsible decisions about sex.

Give immigrant women a choice about the HPV vaccine. According to a federal mandate, immigrant women between the ages of 11 and 26 seeking to adjust their citizenship status are required to receive the Gardasil vaccine, despite no similar requirement for American citizens. The cost of the vaccine adds $400 or more to the $1400 cost of applying for citizenship and evokes a long history of enacting oppressive reproductive health policies on immigrant women and women of color. All women should be able to make an informed choice in consultation with a health professional about the vaccine.

Understand the right to choose is “simply about women’s freedom” – and that’s non-negotiable. During his prime time press conference last night, President Obama was asked whether he is still eager to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. While establishing its unimportance in his legislative agenda, President Obama said it would be a mistake to think, “this is simply an issue about women's freedom and that there's no other considerations.” He spoke of the need to reduce abortion by reducing teen pregnancies and the consensus he hopes to reach amongst “groups both in the pro-choice camp and in the pro-life camp.”

What the president doesn’t seem to know is that the same groups that oppose abortion also oppose birth control. Extreme right-wing groups whose ideology is intrinsically opposed to women’s reproductive freedom are not the right partners in this fight, no matter how much short-term political capital it wins or how much cover it gives “conservadems” facing tough primary fights. There are many mainstream religious organizations whose values are much more in line with the beliefs of the majority of Americans, including the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and Catholics for Choice, that would be much better suited to adding a moral voice to the discussion on curbing unintended pregnancy.

Of course, there are so very many more things that could be done to help women and girls here and around the world. Leave your wishes for the President’s next 100 days in the comments!