Texas governor publicly changes opinion on HPV vaccination for young women

Shortly after announcing plans to run for the U.S. presidency during the 2012 elections, Texas Governor Rick Perry publicly claimed he was wrong to mandate human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccinations for incoming sixth-grade female students in his state. The announcement was the first indication that Perry had ever changed his mind regarding the issue, according to the Texas Tribune.

The news source reports that until this recent statement, Gov. Perry had never expressed any doubts over his initial stand on the issue, manifested in a 2007 executive order.

The legislation made HPV vaccination mandatory unless parents stated a conscientious objection in writing. The inoculation had been designed to protect against strains of the virus responsible for approximately 70 percent of all cervical cancers.

At the press conference in New Hampshire where Perry announced his change of mind, the Texas governor stated that he had initially failed to gauge his constituents' opinions on the matter, and that making the vaccine mandatory was a mistake

"What we should have done was a program that frankly allowed them to opt in or some type of program like that," Gov. Perry said, according to the news source.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that more than 100 types of HPV are known to exist, the majority of which are asymptomatic or sub-clinical.