Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry

When Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., raised the Gardasil question to Texas Gov. Rick Perry during the GOP presidential debates, the old-stream media immediately attacked her for holding an unseemly position: That the vaccine potentially was dangerous and certainly should not be imposed by the government on young girls.

The Bachmann attack "may be hurting her considerably more than him," stated the International Business Times, citing her narrative about a mother who complained the treatment had injured her daughter. "Bachmann did not offer any scientific evidence to suggest there is actually a viable link between Gardasil and mental retardation."

The report said, "Of the 35 million doses of Gardasil distributed in the U.S., only about 0.05 percent of individuals who have been vaccinated have reported some kind of side effect, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mental retardation was not one of them."

The Washington Post joined the criticism, saying, "Her offense quickly turned to defense when her comments were criticized by an extremely long list of groups and people, including Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Post editorial board, Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control.

"In the wake of Bachmann's comments," the report continued, "there doesn't seem to be a rush of stories questioning the safety of Gardasil. There appears to be only one such story: a WISH-TV Indianapolis report about Zeda Pingel, whose mother claims she's suffered health problems after being vaccinated."

The Student Life publication at Washington University accused Bachmann of making verbal gaffes.

'SCARY MEDICINE: Exposing the dark side of vaccines'

"The virus itself is the most common sexually transmitted infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control, some 50 percent of sexually active American adults will contract HPV during their lifetimes. HPV is a very real problem, and this vaccine can help prevent its spread.

"With women comprising half our population, that this claim, which can do nothing but hurt women's health, was made is concerning," the group said.

But it sounds so different when you refer to a paltry 0.05 percent of a large number of people rather than explaining just what happened to the 17,500 individuals who have suffered side effects like Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Bell's Palsy and even death.

The election campaign issue is that Perry issued an executive order requiring young girls in Texas to be given the vaccine. He did allow an opt-out procedure, and his order was countermanded by the state legislature before the inoculations began.

But Bachmann, who has raised her own children as well as acted as a foster parent for dozens more, said the issue is liberty and whether the government should control the lives of its citizens.

In the debate, she said Perry's act was "a violation of liberty interests."

"We cannot forget in the midst of this executive order, there was a big drug company that made millions of dollars because of this mandate," she continued. "Is it about life or about millions of dollars for a drug company?"

Perry said the donation from the vaccine maker, Merck, was only $5,000 and he was insulted if Bachmann was suggesting he could be "bought for $5,000."

"I'm offended for all the little girls who didn't have a choice. That's what I'm offended for," she responded.

Neither the Bachmann nor the Perry campaigns returned WND requests for comment today.

But critics of Perry point out that the vaccine is supposed to address a disease only transmitted by sexual activity, and the issue isn't the mundane, clinical argument that Gardasil supporters portray.

At the What Doctors Don't Tell You blog, a campaign called Truth About Gardasil was highlighted.