Given the United States’ murky history of codifying eugenics into law and authorizing controversial studies on underserved populations, you would think that The USCIS would have thought twice about adding a new stipulation to US Citizenship: fully going into effect this past August, the latest measure requires all female residency applicants to be vaccinated for Human papillomavirus, or HPV.
This can be read one of two ways: Either the Bush Administration is placing yet another unfair (not to mention sexist) barrier on immigration by making such an expensive shot mandatory, or it’s an example of savvy pharmaceutical lobbying on Merck’s behalf to both stimulate their bottom line and do more extensive testing on a population that has no choice to opt out. (Merck also lobbied states to give mandatory vaccines to schoolgirls. Virginia now requires all sixth grade girls to be vaccinated, but there is an opt-out clause.)
I find this to be flagrantly abusive on both counts, and I tend to think that a little bit of both motivations affected the decision. At least one CDC doctor disagreed with the decision toward the beginning, on the grounds that HPV shouldn’t be treated as a communicable disease the way, say, meningitis is. There’s no disputing that Gardasil has some very promising effects, but there have also been some severe problems associated with the vaccine. Now that every woman applying for residency in the US has to take the 3-shot series, they have no option but to expose themselves to the risks associated with a drug that they might not have wanted to take in the first place.
Reproductive freedom is something that a lot of women, including myself, take for granted, but it’s something that should be extended to every woman who enters this country. It’s simply not humane to take away that choice in exchange for a chance to live in America. As a woman of color, I am constantly reminded of how little the US cares about black and brown people, and this is just the latest example of a long history of state violations against females who look like me. WOC PhD has more on the legacy of reproductive violations on our bodies, and talks more about why the vaccine is a bigger deal than you might think it is.
