The Texas Legislature will consider two bills that would require girls entering the sixth grade to receive the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil - shown in clinical trials to be 100% effective in preventing infection with HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases.

The FDA approved the vaccine in July 2006 for sale and marketing to girls and women ages nine to 26, and the CDC voted unanimously to recommend that girls ages 11 and 12 receive the vaccine.