A Senate panel on Thursday killed a proposal that would have ended the practice of requiring young girls to be vaccinated for the human papillomavirus, meant to prevent cervical cancer, leaving Virginia as the only state to make sixth-grade girls get the vaccination.
The bill, sponsored by Del. Kathy Byron, R-Lynchburg, had already cleared the House of Delegates.
The state, however, still leaves an opt-out clause for parents who do not want their children to receive the vaccination; less than 20 percent of girls who were eligible received the vaccine last year.
