Aug 31, 2009, Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. - Only Virginia and the District of Columbia have moved toward requiring sixth-grade girls to get vaccinated for a potentially cancerous sexually transmitted disease, three years after federal health officials recommended the shots.

About two dozen states considered requiring the vaccine, but balked amid funding woes and parents' concerns it wasn't safe and would promote promiscuity. Publicity that a massive pharmaceutical company bankrolled the lobbying effort didn't help.