A controversial proposal to require teenage girls in Colorado to get a new cervical-cancer vaccine stalled in a Senate committee Friday morning.
The measure failed on a 4-4 vote in Senate appropriations, with Democrat Stephanie Takis of Aurora joining Republican opponents.
Bill sponsor Suzanne Williams said she hopes to bring the proposal back this week, when two other senators who were absent can vote. “The bill is not dead,” the Aurora Democrat said.
However, the vote could likely remain tied as one of the excused members, Sen. Ted Harvey, is a Republican and the other, Maryanne Keller of Wheat Ridge, is a Democrat.
The measure, which would add the new vaccine against the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus to the list of shots required to attend public school, had been on hold in the committee while leaders tried to figure out how much it would cost.
Just last week, leaders feared its price tag could be as high as $800,000 for children not covered by Medicaid or private health insurance. After further analysis, Williams told the committee it would cost only about $34,000 next year. But the new fiscal note said that price could go as high as $300,000 the next year.
Public health officials support the bill as a valuable tool in the fight against the human papilloma virus that medical officials estimate causes 70 percent of all cervical-cancer cases.
And while the shot would be on the list of those required for girls in middle school, like all vaccines in Colorado, parents could opt their children out.
Conservatives, however, argue the bill moves vaccination policy from one that protects children from communicable diseases into areas of adult choices.
Opponents also argued it would encourage sexual promiscuity in teenagers, and have accused the vaccine’s manufacturer, Merck, of pushing the legislation to pad its coffers.
Capitol Bureau chief Jeri Clausing can be reached at 303-954-1555
