Perry and Vaccines

(Cross-posted from Autism Policy & Politics)

Speaking with the Miami Herald, Rick Perry commented on autism and vaccines:

We caught up with Texas Gov. Rick Perry this morning in Tampa and asked a few questions about immigration, the controversy over the HPV vaccine and the crowd members who cheered at the idea of letting someone die in a coma. He also gave a shout-out to his buddy, Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

Perry's comments on the HPV vaccine came after Michele Bachmann this morning told a radio show that a woman came up to her after the debate and said her child was made retarded by the Gardasil shot. Perry dismissed that as a side-effect of the vaccine.

"You heard the same arguments about giving our children protections from childhood diseases and that autism was part of it. Now we’ve subsequently found out that that was all generated and not true," he said. "I would suggest to you that this issue about Gardasil and making it available was about saving people’s lives. I sat on the side of a bed of a young lady in Texas who died from cervical cancer. It had a powerful impact on me. We gave parents the right to opt out. The Legislature disagreed with the way we did it. I work for the people, not the other way around…. At the end of the day, saving people’s lives and making vaccines available that can save lives is the important thing…"