Gardasil Requirement for Immigrants Stirs Backlash

Even as the medical community debates the widespread use of Gardasil, a vaccine that helps prevent cervical cancer, the government has made it a mandatory treatment for young women seeking to immigrate to the U.S.

The policy, which went into effect Aug. 1, has angered some immigrant advocates, who say that forcing foreigners to take the costly vaccine saddles them with an unfair financial burden. The decision has also upset health policy experts in the U.S., who see the requirement as excessive.

The addition of Gardasil as a mandatory vaccine is the result of a 1996 immigration law, which states that any vaccination recommended by the U.S. government for its citizens becomes a must for green-card applicants. After the immunization committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised last year that Gardasil be give