Houston Chronicle, Feb.3, 2007 AUSTIN - Acting on an issue stirring controversy in the Legislature, Gov. Rick Perry on Friday made Texas the first state to require girls to get a new vaccine for a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. The executive order, which would apply to all girls entering sixth grade next year, prompted surprise and relief from one lawmaker who didn't think her bill requiring it would have passed. Perry's office insisted protecting girls ages 11 and 12 against the human papillomavirus was a public health issue that had nothing to do with politics. Dr. Martin Myers, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and executive director of the National Network for Immunization Information, called it "a little premature" to order use of the vaccine. "This vaccine is an incredibly important milestone and making it compulsory will definitely increase the proportion of girls who are immunized," Myers said. "But there's a difference between HPV and diseases like polio, measles and diphtheria, which spread rapidly in classrooms."