(Originally posted on Wiretap)
By Naima Coster, WireTap
"Choice" is the marketing theme for Gardasil, a vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV). For women who are American citizens, Gardasil is a choice; for women who are immigrants, the vaccine is a federal mandate upon which their presence in this country depends.
As of July 2008, female immigrants between the ages of 11 and 26 who seek to adjust their citizenship status are required to receive the vaccine. Gardasil markets itself as part of a sexual health revolution for empowered, educated young women and girls -- from their promotional TV spot, "I Chose," to their website which boasts, "We chose to help protect ourselves.... Now the choice is yours!"
But the message that the vaccine is a way for all young women to protect themselves and make decisions about their own sexual health is partial and false; for immigrant women, the vaccine represents the policing of their bodies.
The mandate is a disturbing marriage between anti-immigrant policy and the capitalist ambitions of pharmaceutical giant, Merck, which produces the vaccine. Merck will be cashing checks every time an immigrant woman or girl seeks citizenship in the United States.
Moreover, enforced vaccination is yet another federal measure to police the bodies of immigrant women. These are women who are already subject to deportation, detention, militaristic border control, raids and other brutal enforcement tactics. Now, sexual health regulations require female immigrants to exchange their freedom to make decisions about their own bodies for American citizenship status.
Unaffordable Alternatives
Priced at nearly $360 for all three doses, it is unlikely that many immigrant women and girls will be able to bear the financial hardship of the vaccine and complete the series. Even in the short-term, the requirement of Gardasil does not sufficiently protect immigrant women and girls from HPV and cervical cancer. In order to be effective, Gardasil must be given as three injections over the course of six months. As the makers of the vaccine advertise, "3 IS KEY." Yet the I-693 "Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record" requires that immigrant females receive onlythe first dose "to be medically cleared for adjustment of status."
For immigrant women and girls with limited access to health care and health education, the potential benefits of Gardasil do not even begin to comprehensively address their sexual health needs. It is important for all women to have regular Pap smears in order to detect cervical cancer. Vaccination does not replace this important test. In this country, women of color and low-income women suffer disproportionatelyfrom cervical cancer due to a lack of access to health care and these vital tests. Long after vaccination, immigrant women will experience barriers to quality health care due to their gender, status, class, race and language, which will make these regular screenings a challenge.
The requirement of only one dose, the high cost of the vaccine and the absence of any effort to address larger reproductive and sexual health issues of female immigrants raises the question: What is the benefit of the Gardasil mandate for immigrant women and girls? The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requirement is not a beneficent policy with the health and rights of immigrant women and girls as its core objective. In fact, Gardasil is still a controversial vaccine -- there have been thousands of cases of adverse effects and approximately (PDF) twenty deaths associated with the vaccine. The subjection of an entire generation of immigrant female youth to the vaccine may have alarming public health implications, coinciding as it does with long-standing American anxieties about foreigners and disease, as well as a racist and sexist tradition of using vulnerable female populations of color as test subjects.
Holding the State Accountable
The Gardasil mandate is now being enforced as President Obama launches theCouncil on Women and Girls, a special White House task force implemented to ensure that federal agencies assess the impact of their policies on women and families. If the new administration is committed to the well-being of women and girls, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and USCIS must be held accountable.
These government agencies must consider the cost of the HPV vaccine requirement to immigrant females -- not only in terms of price and potential health risks, but also in terms of reproductive justice and self-determination. Overturning this mandate is urgent if the new administration is committed not only to the issues that affect primarily privileged women, such as "hitting a glass ceiling," but also to the issues that affect those on the margins of society -- poor, queer, minority, young and immigrant women.
The choice that women celebrate on Gardasil's website is a myth so long as some women are not free to decide whether the vaccine is right for them. Vaccines are meant to improve the health of individuals and communities; they should not be tools of a patriarchal and capitalist system that disempower women and profit from the regulation of their bodies. In order to be well, immigrant women need more than a series of injections. Rather, they need a demilitarized immigration system that respects the autonomy of all women and girls to make choices about their bodies -- from their movement across national borders to their reproductive rights.
Naima Coster is a writer and organizer from Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of Yale College where she studied English, African American Studies and fiction writing. She works with young people in the South Bronx to raise awareness about immigrant rights through the creative arts.
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I think its in everyone's best interest if everyone gets their vaccines. But I do agree its not fair to enforce it on one group and not another.
we can't be completely sure of long-term effects yet. But once it is established to be safe I think it should be required as long as other vaccines are.
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Planned Parenthood help women apply for this. I just tabled for PP yesterday and my coordinator told us that it usually take no more than a day to get approved. The cost goes down to $20/shot. That is still money that could be spent of food or rent but it is a lot better than the original $160/shot.
http://www.merck.com/merckhelps/vaccines/qualify.html
So, I can understand the cost problems, but I don't get what the objection to vaccination in the first place is. Requiring poor immigrants to pay for it and also only requiring the first dose, which doesn't actually provide long-term immunity, is stupid. But the article seems to indicate that there's something horribly wrong with requiring vaccination in and of itself, economic issues aside.
Most of the "it's a choice!" is just bullshitting, because HPV is a STI, and the company is trying to avoid getting shit from conservative/religious groups for promoting sex. Most of the objections to requiring Gardasil for anything are, when you strip them down, slut-shaming. It's like how condoms are these mysterious things whose use is unspecified but only married couples need, and pills are "period control."
I recall reading a pretty good post about the anti-vaccination hysteria here: http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/how_anti_vaccination_hysteria_is_about_sex_accidentally_helping_big_pharma_/
IMO it should be a standard vaccination given to children (yes, boys too). I'm not going to defend the "American women have a choice, but you dirty immigrants need the shot" implications of the requirement, but I think the article's implications that there's some sinister, unnamed drawback to the vaccine are just as problematic.
I've heard that people are anti this particular vaccine because it's still very new. Not all the side effects have been adequately studied.
Also, the fact that they require people already living in the US (just women changing their status to permanent legal resident) is a bit silly because it’s not like it’s something foreign being introduced to Americans.
According to the CDC, 50 percent of all sexually active adults will be exposed to HPV at least once in their lives. All these women that have already been living here, and potentially having sexual partners, have already potentially been exposed to HPV. So making them shell out 600 extra dollars, on top of the THOUSANDS of dollars it costs to become a permanent legal resident seems a little unfair.
Also, Gardasil is NOT necessarily the most effective way to prevent cervical cancer. It only protects against two strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer. Granted, they’re the ones most likely to cause cancer, but other strains cause them as well.
Last time I got a pap smear, it was explained to me (by my gyno) that cervical cancer progresses VERY slowly. So best defense is to get a yearly pap and monitor any changes in your cervix via that pap. You can see dangerous changes in your cells with years of anticipation.
Gardasil is also best for women who have not had sex before… lots of holes in the reasons for the vaccine. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve talked to many doctors who highly recommend it… but I don’t know… there are other ways to take care of yourself too in regards to HPV.
Well, again, I would say this is more reason it should be a standard vaccination given to children.
Most of the "anti" I've seen is either nutty conspiracy theorists (same as with most other vaccine-phobia) or "but why would we vaccinate people against an STI unless they are dirty dirty sluts?"
I don't take vaccines unless they're really necessary and pertain to my lifestyle (currently celibate). If my lifestyle changes, I will take the shot. I also don't think those who are vaccinated are "dirty sluts.."
Also, Does anyone think lesbians should be required to get this vaccine? Just curious.
Well, I must admit that I'm not always 100% in favor of vaccinations in general. I had an allergic reaction to one as a child so I only get what I absolutely have to, and even then I try and avoid it.
But if you are coming from a country that still houses diseases that have been eradicated here then it's probably a safe idea. Especially in light of swine flu teaching us that we are far from prepared for any sort of epidemic.
I think that the HPV vaccine is still too new on the market to be requiring it; we can't be completely sure of long-term effects yet. But once it is established to be safe I think it should be required as long as other vaccines are.
There's plenty of HPV in the US. No one is bringing it over. It's not something that's already been eradicated, it's totally, totally here and here to stay already.
I think that the HPV vaccine is still too new on the market to be requiring it; we can't be completely sure of long-term effects yet. But once it is established to be safe I think it should be required as long as other vaccines are.
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I’ve talked to many doctors who highly recommend it… but I don’t know… there are other ways to take care of yourself too in regards to HPV.
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the most effective way to prevent cervical cancer. It only protects against two strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer. Granted, they’re the ones most likely to cause cancer, but other strains cause them as well.
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