I think this vaccine was especially upsetting for right wing folks, since it is for a sexually transmitted virus, and works best if given to people before they become sexually active. Telling God-fearing Christians that they need to vaccinate their pre-pubescent girls for sexually transmitted diseases was always going to be a tough fight.
I remember waaaaay back in 2007, when Texas Governor Rick Perry tried to include the HPV shot in the standard school vaccination requirements. And the party turned on him like a rabid dog. It haunted him all the way into his 2012 Presidential campaign.
The GOP was hopping on that anti-vax bandwagon decades earlier than a lot of people realize.
I think this vaccine was especially upsetting for right wing folks, since it is for a sexually transmitted virus, and works best if given to people before they become sexually active. Telling God-fearing Christians that they need to vaccinate their pre-pubescent girls for sexually transmitted diseases was always going to be a tough fight.