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

Organizer for Day 3: Vaccines, Ethics, and Social PolicyActivity 5: Discussing Ethical Considerations—Fairness and ResponsibilityEstimated Time: 15 minutesTell students they will now focus on the key question, What are the relevant ethicalconsiderations? They will develop a vaccination policy for their state as homework.Ask students to take out their Day 2 homework (Master 2.10) and Master 2.7.Ask them to share their definitions of community immunity from Master 2.10and how the data from the simulation illustrate the concept.Page 2-24, Step 1Page 2-24, Steps 2–3Tell students that they will examine fairness. Briefly review what it means. Page 2-24, Step 4Divide students into pairs. Ask them to discuss the ideas about fairness they Page 2-25, Step 5wrote on Master 2.10 for 3 to 5 minutes.Reconvene the class. Engage students in a discussion of fairness. Page 2-25, Steps 6–7Have the pairs share their ideas about fairness with the whole class. Ask students Page 2-25, Step 8to record the main ideas under “Fairness” on Master 2.7.Give each student a copy of Master 2.11, and briefly review the five variables(introduced on Day 1) and the smallpox example.FairnessStudents will now explore the variables and fairness. Ask, “Are some reasons forwanting to opt out of a vaccine more acceptable than others?”Page 2-25, Step 9Page 2-25, Step 10Read to students the four scenarios on Master 2.11. Page 2-26, Step 11Give students 2 to 3 minutes to discuss one or more of the scenarios with their Page 2-26, Step 12partners. Ask them to consider the relevant ethical considerations, the concept ofcommunity immunity, and the five scientific variables.Reconvene the class, and debrief the scenarios together. Page 2-26,Steps 13–16Tell students, “Thanks to vaccinations, smallpox no longer occurs naturally.” Page 2-27, Step 17Remind students that this module focuses on fairness and respect for persons.Ask them what “Other Considerations” to include in Master 2.7.Activity 6: Discussing Ethical Considerations—Respect for PersonsEstimated Time: 20 minutesNote that respect for persons needs to be balanced with fairness concerns whenconsidering vaccination policy issues.Ask students to record this question on Master 2.7 under “Respect for Persons”:Under what circumstances and to what extent should we respect an individual’schoice not to be vaccinated? Briefly review what respect for persons means.Divide the class into pairs. Give each student a copy of Master 2.12, and explain thatthe stories depict approaches that differ in their emphasis on respect for persons.Page 2-27,Steps 18–19Page 2-27, Step 1Page 2-27, Steps 2–3Page 2-28, Steps 4–52-32 Exploring Bioethics