Yesterday's Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times editorial pages argued against Texas Governor Rick Perry's executive mandate to make the HPV vaccine Gardasil mandatory for all sixth-grade girls, and, as the Sun Times put it, not for the reasons you might think: "Our objection is not the moral one raised by conservatives: We're not concerned this treatment would encourage promiscuity." Instead, the papers argued against Gardasil for yet another dubious reason: that it isn't an easily communicable childhood disease, like polio or measles. "The vaccine, after all, doesn't prevent a childhood disease, but one that would not strike for many years. Kids are not at risk in the classroom, through casual contact, as with most other diseases calling for mandatory vaccination," read the Tribune's piece. The Sun Times echoed the sentiment, adding, "This type of decision is best left to parents after talking to the doctor. State-mandated vaccinations should be limited to preventing diseases caused by casual contact." Both newspapers also made vague allusions to parental decisions, cost, and "more information." But, as the citizens of Illinois, among other states, consider making the Gardasil vaccine a part of the raft of vaccines all schoolchildren receive, they would be wise to ignore such flawed logic. Though HPV does only occur through sexual contact--which of course may still occur at very young ages--the vaccine, Gardasil, only works effectively before girls start having sex; otherwise, what is the point? There is no waiting until adulthood to worry about this. Further, what price can you put on drastically reducing your daughters' chances of getting cervical cancer? If a family can't pay for the treatment, then the state should chip in. And finally, when looking at the issue of parents' rights in the Texas mandate or in the proposed Springfield, Illinois, bill, there already are allowances for parents to make the decision to opt out of the vaccine. It seems like the Chicago papers are equivocating rather than taking a stand. --Sacha Zimmerman