“I told Merck my personal opinion that it shouldn’t be mandated,” Jon Abramson, who chairs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunization practices, tells The Washington Times. “And they heard it from other committee members.”

Abramson opposes mandating Gardasil because HPV, a sexually transmitted disease, isn’t contagious like measles and he isn’t sure states can afford to inoculate all students. “The vaccines out there now are for very communicable diseases. A child in school is not at an increased risk for HPV like he is measles,” he says. As for a state’s ability to pay for Gardasil, which costs about $360, “I don’t see that yet,” he adds.

Okay, this was a personal opinion. Merck’s Maggie McGlynn, who heads the vaccines division, didn’t have to listen to Abramson. Besides, she’s a saleswoman - McGlynn rose through Merck as a marketing maven. Imagine, though, if she had. The drugmaker’s reputation wouldn’t have been sullied again.

[tags]CDC, Gardasil, HPV, Jon Abramson, Merck[/tags]