Mass. won't force cancer vaccine

Massachusetts health authorities said yesterday that they have no plans to require adolescent girls to receive the recently introduced vaccine against cervical cancer, a mandate that has generated controversy in other states.

Instead, Massachusetts parents and girls as young as 9 will decide whether to get a shot of protection against cervical cancer, said Dr. Susan Lett, the medical director of the Massachusetts immunization program.

"We are very careful about what we mandate," said Lett, who testified at a hearing about vaccinations convened by the Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health. "Right now, we want to be excited about this fabulous way to prevent cervical cancer."

The vaccine, marketed under the name Gardasil, is the first immunization to prevent any form of cancer, with about 5 million doses delivered nationally in the past year, according to specialists testifying yesterday.

The Legislative hearing was intended to help lawmakers decide whether the state should pay for the cervical cancer vaccine for any girl who wants it, as well as two other new vaccines, one that prevents meningitis and another that shields against a severe form of diarrhea.

The administration of Governor Deval Patrick had included money in its budget proposal to expand the state's widely heralded childhood immunization program. But the House spending plan eliminated the increase, and the Senate blueprint included money only for the meningitis and diarrhea vaccines.

Dr. Marylou Buyse, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, said most insurers cover the three new shots. Lett said most poor children are eligible for the shots through a federal initiative.

State Representative Peter Koutoujian, the House chairman of the Legislature's Public Health Committee, remained noncommittal after the hearing about whether he would support providing funds to make the three vaccines universally available. State officials estimate it would cost nearly $23 million to provide the three shots to every eligible child and said state funding would be the best way to assure that every child is vaccinated.

In several states, notably Texas, efforts to make the shot mandatory met with stiff opposition.