Work Plan: History of a Public Controversy, Vaccine Mandates
TED Talk Work Day Activity Summary
Duties of each member:
- Reba – park ranger, research history of controversy, film/edit first segment
- Divyesh – goalkeeper, research argument for vaccine mandates, film/edit third segment
- Rachael – record keeper, research argument against vaccine mandates, film/edit second segment, put all segments together for final video
Timeline:
- Over Thanksgiving break, continue researching, finalize the script, and begin editing individual segments.
- Have individual video segments completed by Friday, December 2.
- Have segments of video combined by Sunday, December 4 to submit to peer review discussion.
- Have final drafts of individual segments finished by Wednesday, December 7.
- Submit final video on Friday, December 9.
Day 1:
Our group discussed many topics, including affirmative action, vaccine mandates, artificial intelligence, death penalty, minimum wage, gun control, and animal rights.
We decided on vaccine mandates.
Day 2:
We decided to divide up the work equally, with each person researching one topic and creating a segment on that topic. We researched our topics and discussed the information we learned together. We talked about ways to make sure that our video was unified, since that might be difficult with three people editing three different sections.
We also identified the most important parts of our research:
- Vaccine mandate definition – a requirement that states you have to be vaccinated in order to do certain things like working, traveling, and attending school
- History of vaccine mandates
- First mandate started in the 1850s in Michigan
- 1990s: Childhood vaccination initiative
- Today, nearly all states have laws pertaining to children up to 12th grade that require students to have certain vaccines in order to attend school
- Arguments against vaccine mandates:
- Religious beliefs
- Concerns about safety
- Lack of information
- Limits personal freedom
- Arguments for vaccine mandates:
- The science shows that vaccines are effective in preventing diseases.
- Autism isn’t brought on by vaccines.
- Vaccines save money.
- Vaccine mandates do not infringe on rights
Day 3:
We each did more in-depth research in the time between days two and three, and then we discussed our research when we met on day three. We decided how to organize the video, including the types of pictures and videos we should include. We began writing our script and gave each other feedback on the information and visuals that we each planned to include.
Framing the issue
Vaccine mandates are a public controversy because people have differing opinions on if mandates are ethical or not. While some people believe that it is one’s role to get vaccinated for the good of the entire community, some believe that vaccine mandates infringe on personal rights and prevent people from making their own decisions for their health. People against vaccine mandates also emphasize that, if a government pushes for vaccine mandates, then there might not be anything stopping them from pushing more mandates and stripping away more rights in the future.
We will use charts, statistics, and medical research to show how effective vaccines might be for those who are strong proponents of them. We can have information on their side effects and how they might affect health for those concerned about side effects.
Framing questions:
- Where do we draw the line between infringing on rights and protecting the community?
- Is it the government’s responsibility to overlook the community’s health or to protect fundamental rights?
- Should medical professionals be allowed to have a say on pushing for vaccine mandates?
- Are medical centers ultimately responsible for possible side effects and health issues resulting from vaccines?
- How could enforcing vaccines change the way society views personal freedoms in the future?
- How much power should schools and universities have when it comes to deciding whether or not to have immunization mandates for students?