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Perry Hits Bachmann For Claiming HPV Shot Linked To Disability

Tracy Bloom |
September 14, 2011 | 3:44 p.m. PDT

Deputy Executive Editor

Rick Perry (creative commons)
Rick Perry (creative commons)
Who could have predicted early on in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine would become a major campaign issue? The issue has become just that after a heated exchange between Texas Gov. Rick Perry--who issued an executive order in his state mandating that Texas schoolgirls receive the shot--and the rest of the Republican presidential field in Monday's night's CNN Tea Party debate. 

Now Perry is fighting back, hitting Minnesota Congresswoman and fellow presidential candidate Michele Bachmann for suggesting on "The Today Show" and on Fox News that there could be a link between the vaccine and mental retardation. After a speech at fund-raising luncheon in Virginia on Wednesday, Perry told reporters Bachmann's comments had "no basis in fact."

According to CBS News: "Perry was asked to comment on Bachmann's assertion after Monday night's candidate debate that use of the vaccine might have link to mental retardation. The Republican from Minnesota told Fox News, 'There's a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate. She said her daughter was given that vaccine. ... She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result. There are very dangerous consequences.'"

Perry's not the only one to correct Bachmann's claim; The American Academy of Pediatrics also released a statement following Bachmann's remarks to "correct false statements" the health organization said she made on the HPV vaccine.



 

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