Senator plans to grill health official on HPV vaccine

Hegar is concerned about safety for pregnant women

When Texas health and human services chief Albert Hawkins goes before a Senate committee considering his reappointment Wednesday, he'll probably face scrutiny about Gov. Rick Perry's mandate that 11- and 12-year old girls be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus.

A state senator on the nominations committee said Friday that he will withhold support for Hawkins until the commissioner explains how he would implement Perry's executive order requiring the shots, which help prevent cervical cancer.

(enlarge photo) Sen. Glenn Hegar Lawmaker wants answers on how vaccine order would be implemented.

Sen. Glenn Hegar's concern is that the vaccine, Gardasil, is not intended for pregnant women.

"Does that mean the commissioner intends to require a pregnancy test for each of these young children before they receive the Gardasil HPV vaccine, or does he intend to put these children at undue risk instead?" Hegar, R-Katy, said in a statement.

Since Perry issued an executive order Feb. 2 requiring sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against HPV, several lawmakers — including Hegar — have filed bills to override the mandate. Perry's order directs the state Health and Human Services Commission, led by Hawkins, to write rules requiring the vaccine. The order will take effect in September 2008.

Perry spokesman Robert Black said Hegar is "grasping at straws."

"If Senator Hegar believes that there is an epidemic of pregnant 11- and 12-year-olds out there, I think we have an even bigger issue to deal with than who may or may not get a vaccine," Black said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the vaccine is not recommended for pregnant women. It is not known whether Gardasil could harm a fetus or affect reproductive capacity, the FDA says.

The vaccine is intended to be given to girls and women before they become sexually active.

This week, the governor renominated Hawkins, a former official in the George W. Bush White House who has served as commissioner since 2003, to another term, which would expire in 2009. The seven-member Senate Nominations Committee makes recommendations on appointments, but the decision on confirmation lies with the full Senate.

State Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, said that he would like to see the governor rescind the order but that the nominations committee may not be the place to voice concerns about the vaccine.

And the vice chairman of the committee, Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, said, "Although I am adamantly opposed to the governor's order, I don't blame Commissioner Hawkins for the order."

Hawkins "anticipates there will be full opportunity for comment from all interested parties during the rule-making process," said Ted Hughes, a spokesman for the commission.

Critics of the HPV order have said that receiving the vaccine would give girls the impression that sex is safe and would result in them being more promiscuous. Others who disapprove of Perry's mandate say the governor should have allowed the issue to go through the legislative process.

But Black on Friday pointed out that the Legislature gave state health officials the power to add to the list of required immunizations in 1971. So the order, he said, "does not ask the state agency to do anything they're not already empowered to do."

The HPV vaccine won't be the only topic the senators will cover. Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said he will ask about the troubled start of a system to enroll Texans in public assistance programs through privately run call centers.

"I'll have questions for him about an agency that in my view has been the functional equivalent to FEMA," Shapleigh said.

The other committee members — Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte; Kirk Watson, D-Austin; and Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville — could not be reached for comment Friday.

cmaclaggan@statesman.com; 445-3548