Skip to main content
 

Sex and Vaccination

By Erik Zavrel, Clyde Freeman Herreid

Sex and Vaccination


 

Abstract

This case study focuses on the controversy surrounding the decision by Texas Governor Rick Perry to mandate the compulsory vaccination of girls in the Texas public school system against the human papillomavirus (HPV) prior to entering the sixth grade. The interrupted case method is particularly appropriate for this subject, with successive sections providing a general overview of the disease, the reasons for and against such a mandatory vaccination program, and a disclosure of what ultimately transpired in Texas. Designed for an ethics or public policy course, the case could easily be adapted to emphasize biological and medical topics.

   

Date Posted

04/11/2008

Overview

Objectives

  • To probe the boundary between elected officials’ duty to protect the public health and the right of individuals to make decisions affecting their health and well being.
  • To discern potential bias and partiality in scientific issues.
  • To fashion a compromise solution that makes allowances for dissenting or minority viewpoints in addressing a major public health issue.

Keywords

HPV; human papillomavirus; vaccine; vaccination; oncogene; cervical cancer; sexually transmitted disease; STD; Gardasil; bioethics; Governor Rick Perry; Texas

  

Subject Headings

Biology (General)
Medicine (General)
Public Health

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division, General public & informal education

  

FORMAT

PDF

   

TOPICAL AREAS

Ethics, Policy issues, Scientific argumentation,Social issues

   

LANGUAGE

English

   

TYPE/METHODS

Interrupted

 

 

Asset 2