Science Homework Help

Your Cousin/best friend/neighbor Riley is going to be a parent and is conflicted about vaccinating their child. One of Riley’s Facebook friends strongly believes that their child developed autism after receiving the MMR vaccine and is discouraging Riley from vaccinating the child. When Riley discussed this with their doctor, the doctor suggested that they think strongly about protecting their child by vaccinating the child according to the guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (Links to an external site.). Riley is thoroughly confused and is now seeking your counsel because you had discussed with Riley about taking this science class.

Since you now feel you have a responsibility towards Riley and the baby, you are now seeking to fully inform yourself and formulate your own thoughts before you discuss this with Riley.

This writing assignment has a Question portion, a Comment portion and a Connect portion. Please read everything carefully and make sure you fully answer all the questions posed in each section and provide citations where needed.

Question:

• How has your understanding of vaccinations and its outcomes been impacted over the past weeks and months? Specifically, consider what you thought about vaccinations before COVID. How has your perspective been reinforced, changed, or challenged? As you describe the impact on your perspective, you should reference at least 2 specific parts of the assigned videos (cite the videos) and find at least two additional sources to support your response (citations needed).
• Make a suggestion to Riley about what aspects she should consider in making a decision about whether to vaccinate or not?
• What is the most outrageous theory you have heard of or read about the COVID-19 vaccine? How will you debunk that theory and convince someone like Riley’s Facebook friend that this is not true?

Comment:

Now we have 3 vaccines for COVID-19 available (Pfizer/Moderna/Johnson and Johnson) and research shows their effectiveness. Pfizer and Moderna are now approved by the FDA. However, side effects are still unknown. Comment on the ethical aspects of making a drug like this available for public use. In this part of your response, you might consider the following questions:

– Should the vaccine be mandatory?

– Does the risk outweigh the benefits or do the benefits outweigh the risks?

– Should the vaccine be free and/or covered by insurance?

– Contemplate the pros and cons and clearly lay out your reasoning given the contagious nature of COVID 19 (especially the delta variant).

Connect this to the strange situation we are currently living through.

• What precautions are you currently taking to keep yourself safe?
• Explain the concept of “Herd Immunity” in your own words and speculate on how whether the policies and practices being adopted right now will help us move towards herd immunity.
• Did you personally become a contributing factor to this herd immunity? With 3 vaccines currently available for COVID-19, are you among the group that is already vaccinated or plans on taking the vaccine or among the group that will not get vaccinated? Why? You must explain your point of view and the reason for your decision and back it up one or more of the sources referenced in the “Question” section above or new sources (please cite your sources). Please remember that your response must be based on scientific principles that you will use to support your argument. This is a science class and we are interested in whether you can use science to form opinions and will will not judge you for any opinion you have : )
• Did you/If you have a choice of the three available vaccines, which one did you/will you elect to take? Why that particular one? If you were/are not particular, please explain why you are not particular. Either way, you must explain your point of view and the reason for your decision and back it up one or more sources outside the ones provided by the instructor. If you are not interested in getting vaccinated, please take this as a hypothetical scenario and talk about which vaccine you would prefer if you were getting vaccinated. We are trying to see your scientific reasoning skills by asking this question. You are welcome to say something along the lines of – I will not get vaccinated but if I were to get vaccinated I will choose ……because…..
• You must also speculate (and reflect) on the effect your decision would have on the lives of people around you, including Riley and their child.

A brief reminder about the instructions

THIS REFLECTION MUST BE AS YOURSELF (not in character). Some general ideas:

1. Bring in some of your own experiences with the topic you are reflecting upon to support your perspective on the issue. However, this is a science class. So you must discuss factual information (scientific evidence backed up with citations), in addition to your own feelings and impressions. Compare your experience with your prior knowledge on the subject (maybe you read or watched something that pertains to the topic or maybe discussed it with someone).
2. Agree or disagree with an author’s/presenter’s perspective and use this to support your position/perspective. Be professional about it (discuss your issues with the author’s/presenter’s beliefs and perspectives and with what they wrote).
3. Question any claims/conclusions/facts made by an author/presenter you find dubious or raise doubts if any. Back it up with scientific evidence. Be professional about it (discuss your issues with the author’s/presenter’s beliefs and perspectives and with what they wrote).
4. Check for grammatical and stylistic errors.
5. You must have both “in-text citations” using APA format as well a list of citations (references) at end of the essay with full details of all the references (sources). https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html (Links to an external site.)https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html (Links to an external site.) – this is a great resource – explore the page completelyhttps://www.pfizer.co.uk/behind-science-what-mrna-vaccine (Links to an external site.)https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-19-vaccine-comparison (Links to an external site.)https://www.compoundchem.com/2020/12/02/rna-vaccines/ (Links to an external site.)https://cen.acs.org/content/dam/cen/99/1/WEB/09901-feature6-periodic.pdf (Links to an external site.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m72m1Tmy_M