What I learned about the HPV vaccination

In my time as a reporter for Capital News Service, reporting on the Virginia General Assembly's 2007 session, I learned a lot about the human papillomavirus, which can lead to cervical cancer, and its newly developed vaccine. I went into writing what turned out to be a series of stories thinking the legislation requiring 6th grade girls to have the vaccine for school entry was a great triumph for women's health and the fight against cancer.
What I uncovered was data about the test group numbers, lengths and ages, and about how much money legislators sponsoring the bills had received from the vaccine's maker Merck. My findings were alarming. The age group the vaccine is recommended for was the smallest test group studied for the shortest length of time. When I started digging through campaign finance reports I found that one of this year's legislative sponsored had received a total of $10,000 from Merck over the past ten years.
Whose interests are being looked after here? The lives of young women or the pockets of government officials?