Wisconsin state Sens. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) and Robert Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie) recently acknowledged support has waned since January for their bill requiring sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV).

Rep. Leah Vukmir (R-Milwaukee) pledged the bill would die if it reached the Assembly health committee, which she chairs. Republican Sens. Alberta Darling (River Hills) and Dan Kapanke (La Crosse) have withdrawn their co-sponsorship of the bill, and Taylor no longer lists other previously supportive Republicans as co-sponsors.

Nonetheless, Taylor and Wirth plan to advocate for a mandatory HPV bill and shore up support for it. Taylor said she did not know when she would introduce the legislation.

Since last year, when the Gardasil vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and recommended by CDC's advisory committee, states have taken a range of approaches regarding it - from mandating it, to requiring insurance coverage for it, to providing education and supporting vaccination coverage of the poor.

The lack of coverage for girls who slip between the cracks of government and private insurance schemes has left many Gardasil advocates neutral or opposed to mandatory vaccine bills. Some doctors also balk at offering Gardasil, since reimbursement can be insufficient. No one knows if or when a booster would be needed after a person receives the $360, three-shot series, or who would pay for that.

In Wisconsin, Gardasil is available free to females ages 9-18 through the federal and state vaccine programs for the under- and uninsured and to Native Americans, said Stephanie Marquis, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Family Services.