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School vaccine mandates
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School vaccine mandates Infographic showing estimated lives saved by childhood vaccinations worldwide from 1974 to 2024, with syringe-shaped bars for each disease. Measles tops the list at 93.71 million lives saved, followed by tetanus, whooping cough, and others, for a total of 153.84 million lives saved.
Painting of George Washington and officers in winter coats at a snowy Revolutionary War encampment, with Continental Army soldiers huddled around a fire.
James Madison Louis Pasteur
The History of the Polio Vaccine
A healthcare worker wearing gloves disinfects the upper arm of a teenage girl in a clinic setting, preparing her for a vaccination. Other people are seated in the background.
Vaccine Development.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wearing a dark suit and green patterned tie, seated indoors with a microphone clipped to his lapel. A health worker wearing a blue surgical mask holds up a vial of CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine, with the vaccine label visible in the foreground.
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School vaccine mandates

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Discussion questions

  1. Should states be allowed to mandate vaccines for school attendance? Why or why not?
  2. Should states allow religious or philosophical exemptions to school vaccine mandates? Why or why not?
  3. Should vaccines be required of certain adults? Consider workplaces such as hospitals, schools, and the military. Should adults, especially important highly trained adults in these key industries, lose their jobs if they refuse vaccinations? And should soldiers, for example, be treated differently than teachers and doctors? Explain your answers.
  4. What questions do you have after reading the debate above? Where might you find answers?
  5. What was the most interesting thing you learned from this debate?
  6. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? How and why?. If your thoughts have not changed, explain how and why you better understand the other side of the debate.
  7. Push for the position and policies you support by writing local officials, U.S. senators and representatives, or other people in a position to make the change you champion.

Sources

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