About 30 people gathered on the steps of the John A. Wilson Building downtown Thursday to protest a bill that requires all school-aged District of Columbia females to receive vaccinations against the human papillomavirus.

Chanting “not on our daughters” and holding signs that read “children are not guinea pigs,” protesters accused Council Members David Catania, I-at large, and Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, of being in the pocket of lobbyists for Merck, the company that manufactures the HPV vaccination Gardasil. The Federal Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine in June.