Merck vaccine would not be required here, yet

Debate surrounding the cervical cancer vaccine hasn't reached North Carolina's General Assembly, but it may soon.

Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Guilford County Democrat, plans to introduce a bill next week to require schools, health departments and other public agencies to disseminate information about cervical cancer and the vaccine for HPV, the virus that causes it.

She's still figuring out the details, but Dorsett said she knows her bill will stop short of mandating that girls receive the vaccine.

"I think there are a lot of things I need to do before I get into the requirement of it," she said, including ensuring insurance coverage and supplies for people who can't afford the vaccine.

Dorsett said she hasn't spoken to anyone with Merck about the bill. She said her work over the past several years with Women in Government's cervical cancer prevention task force predates the approval of the company's vaccine in June. Women in Government is an advocacy group of female state legislators.

Merck and rival GlaxoSmithKline, which has a U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, have been working on HPV vaccines for years.

Rep. Debbie Clary, a Cleveland County Republican, has no doubt that a North Carolina legislator eventually will introduce a bill requiring HPV vaccination. "I don't know if it will be this year or the next, but I'm certain it will be discussed," she said. "It's obvious that Merck is pushing for mandates."

Clary also is a member of Women in Government, but she disagrees with the group's efforts to make the vaccine mandatory. Sexually transmitted diseases are not the same public health threat as airborne diseases such as measles, she said.

"I think it will be a tremendous debate, because you're treading on territory that is a parent's decision," Clary said.