NOW against HPV vaccination of immigrants

[Guest guest]

Did this get sent out already? Something about immigrants and the HPV vaccine

came through here but I don't think this was it:

http://www.now.org/issues/diverse/nciwr/100108immigrationhpv.html

National Coalition for Immigrant Women's Rights Statement: HPV Vaccination

Requirement Discriminates Against Immigrant Women

September 29, 2008

In July 2008, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) quietly added

Gardasil, a vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV), to their list of

required vaccinations for immigrants applying to adjust their immigration status

or for visas to enter the U.S. HPV is a sexually-transmitted viral infection and

is the leading cause of cervical cancer. Implemented last month, immigrant girls

and young women between the ages of 11 and 26 are now required to receive the

vaccine. The National Coalition for Immigrant Woman's Rights (NCIWR), a

coalition that supports and promotes reproductive justice for immigrant women

and their families, strongly objects to this mandate. The new requirement

violates a woman's basic right to self-determination, creates additional

barriers for immigrant families seeking adjustment of status, and unfairly

forces immigrant women to subject their bodies to a new treatment with known

side effects.

Reproductive Justice for Immigrant Women and Families

Reproductive justice is achieved when all women and girls have the means and

ability to make well-informed decisions about their bodies, health, sexualities,

families, and communities. It is connected to broader struggles for social

justice and human rights.

Research that disaggregates data based on race and ethnicity shows that cervical

cancer has a disproportionate impact on certain immigrants, particularly Latinas

and certain ethnic Asian groups including Vietnamese, Korean and Hmong women.

However, USCIS's decision to mandate Gardasil for young immigrant women will not

resolve these health disparities. In fact, the high expense of medical care, the

lack of health insurance and the difficulty in finding culturally competent

services means that young immigrant women must often forego routine preventative

health care services such as pap smears. These inequalities in access contribute

to their high rates of cervical cancer. While we support safe medical

technologies that protect the health of women, these technologies alone will not

fully improve immigrant women's lives.

The Vaccine Creates Another Barrier to Integration for Immigrant Women

The HPV vaccination requirement is essentially a surcharge applied only to young

immigrant women that will effectively block them from immigrating to the U.S. or

becoming U.S. citizens. Gardasil is the most expensive vaccine on the market,

costing a person nearly $500. The vaccine is given in three-shot doses, costing

$162 per dose. This is and can be a lot of money for women seeking adjustment of

immigration status. For example, a woman with two daughters of vaccination age

would have to come up with almost $1,000 to cover these costs.

Use of Immigrant Women as Test Subjects

Dr. Jon Abramson, former chairman of the Advisory Committee on Immunization

Practices of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), has said that Gardasil

should be not be mandatory because HPV is unlike measles or chicken pox in that

it is transmitted only by sexual contact. Furthermore, there are side effects

associated with Gardasil including fainting, soreness of the injection site,

nausea, and fatigue. Moreover, the FDA reports that as of June 30, 2008, there

have been 9,749 reports of adverse events following Gardasil vaccinations, of

which 94% were classified as non-serious events and 6% as serious events.(1)

While the FDA states that the serious events (which included 20 deaths) had no

common pattern that would suggest that Gardasil was the cause, it notes that

Merck, Gardasil's manufacturer, has committed to conducting a post-marketing

study to further assess the vaccine's safety. Because many leading vaccine

experts and medical journals advice against making the HPV vaccine mandatory and

the possible adverse effects associated with the vaccine, NCIWR believes that

HPV vaccination should be a choice. We are disturbed that the HPV vaccination is

required only of immigrant women and not of U.S. citizen women. The U.S. has a

longstanding history of using immigrants as test subjects. This current policy,

at best, sends the unfair message that only U.S. citizen women have the right to

weigh the risks associated with Gardasil while immigrant women do not. At worst,

the new rule is a continuation of an ugly history of using immigrant women as

involuntary clinical trial subjects.

Alternative Solution

If the true intent of USCIS is to look out for the health of immigrant girls and

young women, then there are far more just ways of going about it. HPV is easily

treated if it is detected early. Therefore, the logical solution is for USCIS to

work with the Department of Health and Human Services to make pap smears more

accessible and affordable to immigrant girls and women since that is the most

effective way to detect abnormal cell growth that could lead to cervical cancer.

NCIWR urges USCIS to remove the HPV vaccination requirement.

NCIWR advocates for fair, comprehensive and non-discriminatory approaches to

immigration reform and policies that promote equality, reproductive justice, and

economic justice for immigrant women.

Reference:

(1) Information from CDC and FDA on the Safety of Gardasil Vaccine, available at

http://www.fda.gov/cber/safety/gardasil071408.htm.

Copyright 1995-2008, All rights reserved. Permission granted for non-commercial

use. National Organization for Women

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