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Lesson 6

We will continue to address the ethical issues surrounding vaccination by considering the third Framing Question: What are the ethical issues involved in mandating vaccinations? We will read, analyze, and evaluate two arguments that view mandatory vaccinations from a personal liberty perspective. We will delineate and analyze the two anti-vaccination arguments, evaluate claims made by the authors, discuss the ethical issues and approaches, and continue to think about the impacts of decisions to mandate or not mandate vaccinations.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I identify the claims, reasoning, and evidence used to develop arguments and explanations?

  • Can I recognize points of connection between two arguments and make objective and logical comparisons?

Texts

Core

  • Unit Reader
    • “2015 Testimony Submitted to the Oregon Legislature RE: SB-442,” Jennifer Margulis, Public Domain, 2015
    • “The Ethics of Opting Out of Vaccination,” Janet Stemwedel, Nature America, Inc., 2013
    • “Vaccination and Free Will,” Jeffrey A. Singer, Reason Foundation, 2014

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss – Read – Write

We will discuss “Vaccination and Free Will,” an opinion piece published in reason that advocates for the rights of individuals and against coercive vaccination mandates.

With a partner, discuss and delineate the argument "Vaccination and Free Will," an opinion piece published in Reason.

Begin by identifying and comparing key words that you added to your Vocabulary Journals.

As you analyze the perspective, position, claims, and evidence presented by Singer, you might consider using the Delineating Arguments Tool to track ideas you can use in a speed debate in the next lesson or in your own written arguments.

Compare and discuss your responses to the following text-specific questions from the homework assignment:

  1. What is the author’s profession, and what impact does this have on his perspective and position? What impact might this have on his audience?

  2. Which sentence best captures Singer’s overall position? What do you notice about where it is located?

  3. What are some of the supporting claims that Singer makes? What evidence does he provide to support these claims? Cite details from the text to support your answer.

  4. How does Singer’s argument and reference to "free-riders" contrast with Stemwedel’s "The Ethics of Opting Out of Vaccination"? Cite evidence from both texts to support your answer.

  5. How does Singer structure the reasoning in his argument? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

Activity 2: Discuss

We will analyze the claims and arguments made by Singer in terms of ethical issues and approaches.

As a class, discuss Singer’s "Vaccination and Free Will" in response to the Framing Question:

  1. What are the ethical considerations involved in mandating the vaccination of children?

As a class, use the following questions from the Analyzing Ethical Issues Question Set to further analyze and discuss Singer’s argument:

Philosophical Issues and Approaches

  1. The Common Good: In what ways does the argument reflect consideration of the common good?

  2. Individual Rights and Personal Liberty: In what ways does the argument reflect consideration of individual rights or personal liberty?

Public Health Issues and Controversies

  1. Mandates and Objections: In what ways does the argument reflect controversies between governmental mandates and citizen objections?

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read and annotate a 2015 testimony before the Oregon Legislature arguing that a bill removing exemptions from the state’s mandatory vaccination laws should not be passed.

Step 1

Read and annotate "2015 Testimony Submitted to the Oregon Legislature RE: SB-442" submitted by Jennifer Margulis to the Oregon Legislature regarding Senate Bill 442, a law intended to limit parental exemptions from mandatory vaccinations.

Consider the following text-specific questions as you read:

  1. Who is the author, and what impact does this have on her perspective and position? What impact might this have on her audience of legislators in Oregon?

  2. Which sentences best capture Margulis’s overall position? What do you notice about where these sentences are located?

  3. What details about the makeup of MMR and polio vaccines does Margulis cite in explaining claims about why parents should have the right to forgo these vaccines? How do these details make an emotional appeal to readers?

  4. Margulis ends her argument with an analogy and two rhetorical questions. What impact does this ending have on the effectiveness of her argument?

  5. How does Margulis’s argument contrast with Roald Dahl’s letter to parents in its perspective, position, and approach?

As a class, discuss Margulis’s argument in relation to these questions. Determine which side of the common good versus individual rights debate Margulis is taking, and why.

As you read and discuss, make note of any details and evidence used to support the claims in this argument. This will become useful in the speed debate in the next lesson. To do this, you might consider using the Delineating Arguments Tool to track the argument’s position, claims, and evidence.

Step 2

In your Mentor Sentence Journal, write down a mentor sentence from the Margulis argument that you find interesting or powerful. Paraphrase what the author is saying. Using that mentor sentences as a guide, compose your own sentence based on your current position on mandatory vaccinations. You might use either of these sentences in your own writing for the Section Diagnostic or Culminating Task.

Activity 4: Read

For homework, we will review the Delineating Arguments Tool.

For homework, review the Delineating Arguments Tool you developed for the four arguments from the previous lesson and this lesson, noting claims and evidence you find particularly strong and well-supported.