Merck stops lobbying for vaccine

Merck & Co., bowing to pressure from parents and medical groups, is immediately suspending its lobbying campaign to persuade state legislatures to mandate that adolescent girls get the company’s new vaccine against cervical cancer as a requirement for school attendance.

The drug maker, which announced the change Tuesday, had been criticized for quietly funding the campaign, via a third party, to require that 11- and 12-year-old girls get the three-dose vaccine in order to attend school.

Some had objected because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted disease, human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer. Vaccines mandated for school attendance usually are for diseases easily spread through casual contact, such as measles and mumps.

“Our goal is about cervical cancer prevention and we want to reach as many females as possible with Gardasil,” Dr. Richard M. Haupt, Merck’s medical director for vaccines, told the Associated Press.

“We’re concerned that our role in supporting school requirements is a distraction from that goal, and as such have suspended our lobbying efforts,” Haupt said.

Merck shares fell 37 cents to $44.13 in after-hours trading after rising 22 cents in regular trading to $44.50.

Times staff writer Nancy Vogel in Sacramento contributed to this report.