Exploring Bioethics - NIH Office of Science Education - National ...

Day 3: Vaccines, Ethics, and Social PolicyPurposeDay 3 gives students the opportunity to consider the core ethical considerations related to mandatory vaccinationpolicies for school entry and to make a justified argument for their own policy recommendations.Students focus on one of the four key questions: What are the relevant ethical considerations? They use theirprior knowledge as they develop and justify their positions. This module focuses on the considerations offairness, respect for persons, and the extent of responsibility individuals should have to their communities.See theIntroduction• More information on the ethicalconsiderations (respect forpersons, harms and benefits,and fairness) can be found inthe Introduction, pages 7–8.• To review tips for conducting anethical discussion, see Table 2 inthe Introduction, pages 16–19.Activity 5:Discussing Ethical Considerations—Fairness and ResponsibilityEstimated Time: 15 minutesProcedure1. Introduce the day by telling students they will be focusing on this keyquestion: What are the relevant ethical considerations? In particular,they will explore two ethical considerations: fairness and respect forpersons. They then will develop a vaccination policy for their state,including reasons for their position, which they complete as homework.2. Ask students to take out their homework (Master 2.10) and Master 2.7.See Teacher Support MaterialsAn answer key for Master 2.10 is available online at http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/bioethics/teacher.3. As a review, ask individual students to share their own definitionsof community immunity from Master 2.10 and how the data fromthe simulation illustrate the concept.Fairness4. Tell students that they will first examine the ethical considerationof fairness, and then briefly review what fairness means.When considering fairness, people must determine whether benefits,resources, risks, and costs are distributed equitably. Sometimes, whatis fair is described as giving each person an equal amount of something.Other times, it’s described as providing according to each person’s need or toeach person’s merit or contribution.Fairness: Sharing benefits, resources, risks, and costs equitably.2-24 Exploring Bioethics