For this assignment, I wrote from the point of view of an employee for a school district. In this hypothetical scenario, I was tasked with completing a report to help the district make a decision on whether to mandate vaccinations for all students. Upon completion of the report, my "boss" asked me to remove all reference to a certain article. My assignment was to write a memo in response, keeping in mind the ethical and legal considerations involved in technical writing.
MEMORANDUM
To: Dr. Laurie Lattimore-Volkmann
From: Claire Delano
Date: 4 February 2020
Subject: Ethical and legal concerns regarding vaccine report
Dear Dr. Lattimore-Volkmann,
Thank you very much for your feedback on the vaccine report I submitted to you. I am glad that you found it satisfactory, but I would like to discuss a bit further your decision to remove the reference to the NASEM journal article that disproves the purported link between vaccines and the development of autism.
I understand your hesitation to address this point specifically, since the argument about autism is one that is extremely prevalent and sensitive among members of the anti-vaccination movement. It is likely that anti-vaccine parent groups will indeed be offended by the report, but if they are strongly opposed to mandatory vaccines already, any pro-vaccine report will probably cause discontent and excluding the study about autism will not lessen it.
I believe that the NASEM article is a valuable part of the report because it has the potential to assuage the concerns of parents who may be uncertain about their stance on vaccines. The false assertion that vaccines cause autism is one of the most common arguments against vaccinations, so if the report neglects to acknowledge it, uncertain parents may wonder if this is because the argument does have validity. It is natural for parents to have concerns about science that may not be familiar to them, especially when it involves their children. As a school district, if we are to engage parents in a policy decision about vaccines, we should do it in a comprehensive, informative manner that recognizes the parents’ questions and answers them with reliable sources such as the NASEM article.
In addition to disproving the vaccine-autism link, the NASEM article does contain evidence of anaphylaxis caused by vaccines in rare circumstances. This is another important reason to include it in the report. Although that information could potentially bolster anti-vaccine voices, we have an ethical obligation to let parents know about all risks, no matter how rare they are. Furthermore, if the school district fails to provide this knowledge and a child does suffer from an allergic reaction to vaccines, we may be held legally liable for giving this advice to parents without making them aware of the possibility for anaphylaxis.
I hope you will take my thoughts into consideration as our district seeks to make the best decision regarding this policy.
Sincerely,
Claire Delano