Illinois Rep. Naomi Jackobsson (D-Urbana) and Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), a Women in Government state director sent a proposal to the House Rules Committee to require all school girls to receive Merck’s HPV vaccine before entering sixth grade.  

Merck is said to have influenced Women in Government, a not-for-profit organization comprised of woman state legislators.   Much of Merck’s effort to push the states’ mandatory vaccination of schoolgirls with Gardasil has been made through Women in Government.

The proposal in Illinois for girls to receive the HPV vaccine was profiled by Rep. Naomi D. Jackosson on December 6 2006 in the state Assembly, referred to Rules Committee on Jan. 19 and assigned to Human Services Committee on Jan 30.

The Human Services Committee hearing on HPV prevention was scheduled on Feb 7 in Stratton Building Room D-1 in Springfield, Illinois, according to the House website.

If the bill is okayed, beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, the parent or legal guardian of a school girl entering the sixth grade for the first time must submit a statement signed by a physician to indicate that the parent or guardian has received the information on the HPV and cervical cancer connection and the child has received the HPV vaccine or that the parent or guardian has received the information, but elected not to have her or his girl vaccinated with the HPV vaccine Gardasil.

According to the bill, those who are not covered by a public or private health insurance plan may receive funds from the Illinois State Department of Public Health for the HPV vaccine shots. Three shots required to vaccinate a girl costs $360.  According to foodconsumer.org, the HPV vaccine may save some women's lives, but the cost could be 15 times higher than that for treatment of cervical cancer patients.

The bill also aims to promote public awareness of the link between HPV and cervical cancer, the availability and efficacy and the importance of providing the vaccine Gardasil to young females.   It also requires a plan to be developed to provide HPV vaccines to the maximum extent possible throughout the State of Illinois.

Many conservative and right groups have indicated that the government sanctioned inoculation of schoolgirls with the HPV vaccine would promote their premarital sex and interferes with parents’ rights to making medical choices for their girls.

Early short term trials showed Merck’s Gardasil may help protect against 70 percent of precancerous lesions, but the protective effect against cervical cancer remain unclear. In comparison, screening approaches can save as much as 80 percent of cervical cancer cases, an article published in a medical journal said.