Doctors slam Bachmann vaccine comments

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's debate comments on the safety of the vaccine against the human papillomavirus are misleading, doctors said.

Rep. Bachmann, R-Minn., slammed Gov. Rick Perry in Monday's GOP debate for his 2007 executive order mandating all sixth-grade Texas girls be required to get vaccinations against HPV, the virus linked to cervical cancer, ABC News reported.

In a Tuesday television interview, Bachmann again discussed the HPV vaccine, talking of her meeting with a Florida mother after the Tampa debate.

"She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter," Bachmann said.

Medical experts were quick to condemn her comments.

"The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation," the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement Tuesday.

"There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record," the academy's release said.