Law Commons^™

Mandatory Hpv Vaccination And Political Debate, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Vaccinations are among the most cost-effective and widely used public health interventions, but have provoked popular resistance, with compulsion framed as an unwarranted state interference. When the FDA approved a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in 2006, conservative religious groups strongly opposed a mandate, arguing it would condone pre-marital sex, undermine parental rights, and violate bodily integrity. Yet, Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order in 2007 making Texas the first state to enact a mandate — later revoked by the legislature.

Mandatory HPV vaccination reached the heights of presidential politics in a recent Republican debate. Calling the vaccine a "very …

Political Factors And Enforcement Of The Nursing Home Regulatory Regime, Philip C. Aka, Lucinda M. Deason, Augustine Hammond

Journal of Law and Health

This study analyzes the influence of political factors, oversight, and nursing home affiliation or ownership status on the enforcement of the nursing home regulatory regime, signified by the Nursing Home Reform Act ("NHRA") and its progeny. Specifically speaking, it measures, using the statistical technique of regression analysis, factors that account for variations across states in the number of deficiencies (or violations of quality standards) cited by nursing home inspectors across the states. This work is a first of its kind, an analysis not government-related, by a set of public administration scholars that systematically studies the influence of political forces on …