I don’t know how this escaped my notice .As of July 2008, the USCIS has revised list of vaccines required for applicants seeking to adjust status to become legal permanent residents. For those of us who have gone through the process earlier, its not out of the norm to be asked to produce vaccination records or to undergo a TB test. But tucked away in the list of mandatory vaccinations for immigrant women wanting to adjust their status is this one: Human papillomavirus.As far as I know , the only vaccine available against HPV is Gardasil, manufactured by pharma giant Merck.
Its no wonder that several concerned people , including this author are raising questions about why a vaccine aimed at girls between 11 and 26 that is strictly OPTIONAL for US citizens is being made mandatory for immigrant women. From the linked article:
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.
Now I find that disturbing and scary. Even if we discount any conspiracies, the mandate is at the least extremely unfair. Immigrant women are basically losing the right over their own bodies. Even worse, immigrant parents lose the right to make informed medical decisions about which preventive treatment they choose to give their female children. As a parent, I can understand how difficult a situation this is for immigrant parents. Unlike full-fledged citizens who get to decide whether their minor daughters need to take the vaccine (which at $ 360 a shot is not inexpensive by any means) , immigrant parents do not get the luxury of choice. Per the article linked to, a single dose of the vaccine is anyway meaningless – at least 3 shots are required and as I mentioned at over three hundred dollars for each , its an additional burden that many immigrants simply cannot afford.
I am curious to know what logic drives the decision to mandate a vaccine for immigrant children but make it optional for US citizens. Is it only the HPV requirement that is linked to a monopoly vaccine? If any of our readers with medical knowledge can educate me if I am missing something , I would be very grateful.
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