Ava Chiang
1/30/19
Biology 10H
Current Event #1
Chodosh, Sara. “1 In 4 Kindergartners Aren't Fully Vaccinated in County with Measles Outbreak.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 29 Jan. 2019, www.popsci.com/measles-outbreak-vaccination.
For current event 1 I read an article named “1 in 4 kindergarteners aren’t fully vaccinated in county with measles outbreak” by Sara Chodosh. I chose to read this article because I’ve always been interested in social events and anti-vaccination movements is an highly controversial topic. In this article, Chodosh described the circumstances that led the governor of Washington to declare a state of emergency after an outbreak of measles in Clark and King counties. Measles is “one of the most highly contagious disease” and “a prime candidate for causing outbreaks.” It requires at least 95 percent of a population “to be immunized for herd immunity to work against measles.” Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that “only 76.5 percent of Clark County’s kindergarteners had completed vaccinations in the last school year.” Currently, there are 36 cases with 11 more potential victims waiting for confirmation. Among the 36 cases, 35 are children under 18 years old. This is another alarming aspect of measles, people such as newborns or “individuals with deficient immune systems” who are unable to get immunized are at an increased risk of contracting the disease. The tragedy of this situation is that the United States had once eradicated measles from this country. Other than “a small number of Americans [who] contracted the disease by traveling abroad” and those who came into contact with them, there were no cases of measles in the United States. This was until anti-vaccination movements ruined the streak. Studies have found that in states that allow exemptions from vaccinations based on personal belief, there is “an upward trajectory” in numbers of these exemptions with Washington state and Texas being “hotspots of low vaccination coverage” among the 18 states that allow exemptions. The article concludes by warning people who live near Clark County or have recently visited to get the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) to avoid contracting the disease and reassured people that most cases so far had been unvaccinated children.
This article describes the effect of unvaccinated children on society and the potential disaster it could cause. Measles was an disease that could’ve been completely eliminated from society but due to the selfish decisions of certain people, countless families are at risk of contracting a dangerous disease. Among these people are innocent newborns and people who are unable to be vaccinated; they don’t have a choice but those who do chose to throw their’s away based on faulty science. On the other hand, the statistics given in this article shows in-depth research and proves the connection between anti-vaccination movements and outbreaks of disease.
This article acts like a summary to help people that don’t know about the measle outbreak understand the situation quickly. Its concise and has a fast pace without being repetitive of ideas. The flow of topics was smooth and her arguments and ideas were backed with statistics. However, there are a few typos that show the author’s hastiness; for example “Texas is one of the worth offenders.” I feel like small mistakes like this don’t affect the flow of the article but it does damage the credibility of authors. Other than small mistakes like this there is nothing majorly wrong with this article, however, i would’ve preferred the author to give a little background about anti-vaccination movements. I believe that it would better clarify the situation.
Griffin Patterson January 29th 18
ReplyDeleteBiology comment
Ava’s article: Chodosh, Sara. “1 In 4 Kindergartners Aren't Fully Vaccinated in County with Measles Outbreak.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 29 Jan. 2019, www.popsci.com/measles-outbreak-vaccination.
Ava, When reading your article called” 1 In 4 Kindergartners Aren't Fully Vaccinated in County with Measles Outbreak” there were many things that you did very well. First of all the evidence for your topic was represented very well. For example when she said Measles is “one of the most highly contagious disease” and “a prime candidate for causing outbreaks.” It requires at least 95 percent of a population “to be immunized for herd immunity to work against measles. This evidence for measles being a contagious disease was backed up by the information of that it requires 95 percent of the population to try to work against measles. Another positive aspect from this current event would be that her information was widely based on trying to prevent measles and also representing the tragedy that could happen if we don't work to prevent measles. For example she said in the final paragraph that “Measles was an disease that could’ve been completely eliminated from society but due to the selfish decisions of certain people, countless families are at risk of contracting a dangerous disease. Among these people are innocent newborns and people who are unable to be vaccinated; they don’t have a choice but those who do chose to throw their’s away based on faulty science”. This proves her information was to mainly help work on measles so they don't affect so many families and newborns. The last thing I thought she did very well in her writing was hooking the reader throughout the whole piece. Even in the second to last paragraph she shows and provides evidence for the effect of unvaccinated children on society and the potential disaster it could cause. This hooks the reader in the way that the first paragraph did when she was saying that Measles is “one of the most highly contagious disease” and “a prime candidate for causing outbreaks.
There were also some things that ava could improve on though. In some cases in your review the information is very broad. I am saying this because of the line “Measles was an disease that could’ve been completely eliminated from society but due to the selfish decisions of certain people, countless families are at risk of contracting a dangerous disease”. I feel like this was a very repetitive line in your review. Also saying that that measles could've been eliminated and that it was because of selfish decisions. Who made those decisions? Also who and what families in what areas of the world were affected. Another thing i think ava would have improved on in her review is the use of outside information. I feel like in the beginning you could be put more outside information on measles and what it overall is. Also outside information on why ti spreads and what happens to you if you get it.
Although there was some things you could have improved on i was very interested and hooked on your topic. I think the fact that Measles was an disease that could’ve been completely eliminated from society but due to the selfish decisions of certain people, countless families are at risk of contracting a dangerous disease. This really got me thinking about measles and how i could help to prevent this horrible disease earlier.
Megan Barker
ReplyDelete2/6/19
Bio 10H
Current Event #2
Chodosh, Sara. “1 In 4 Kindergartners Aren't Fully Vaccinated in County with Measles Outbreak.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 29 Jan. 2019, www.popsci.com/measles-outbreak-vaccination.
Most aspects of Ava’s current events review on the article “1 In 4 Kindergartners Aren't Fully Vaccinated in County with Measles Outbreak” by Sara Chodosh were very positive. For example, the review addressed all of the necessary components and had a clear flow. She explained the article, easily transitioned from that to how the article relates to the world, and finally discussed a few suggestions for improvement. There were no components missing from the review. Furthermore, Ava explained herself clearly and well. When reading the article, I was not confused at any point. Every point she made was backed up with evidence, such as when she stated that measles were making a comeback in the United States and then gave specific statistics as to how many cases there were and how many people have been impacted. Furthermore, Ava chose an interesting, relevant topic that could possibly be impactful to our everyday lives. The topic is also relevant because of its controversiality at the moment.
Though on the whole the article was great, there were a few parts of Ava’s review that could have been improved. For example, some sentences were a little bit too opinionated or baseless. In the second paragraph, Ava states “due to the selfish decisions of certain people” in reference to parents against vaccinations. Calling this decision selfish, however, is not taking into account that the parents may have had, in their eyes, legitimate reasons to not vaccinate their child. Since there is no evidence in the text itself that the decision of the parents was selfish, calling it that makes the review more opinionated than objective. Also, I would have loved slightly more contextualization. If Ava were to have explained in the beginning that measles used to be a life-threatening disease but had been almost entirely eradicated from the United States due to vaccinations, it would have added to the overall clarity of the article.
In Ava’s review, new information was brought to light for me; I was previously unaware of the impact of the anti-vaccination community. Though I knew that there were families against the ideas of vaccination, I had no idea that they were legitimately affecting the general health of the United States. I especially did not know that anti-vaccination communities are responsible for the reemergence of previously eradicated diseases in the United States, such as measles. Because of this review, I will definitely try to be more aware of how this issue progresses, and how small movements may have large-scale impacts, for better or for worse.
Chris Aherne
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Current Event 5
3-11-19
Chodosh, Sara. “1 In 4 Kindergartners Aren't Fully Vaccinated in County with Measles Outbreak.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 29 Jan. 2019, www.popsci.com/measles-outbreak-vaccination.
For current event 5, I decided to read my peer Ava Chiang's review on the article " 1 In 4 Kindergartners Aren't Fully Vaccinated in County with Measles Outbreak", where the author, Sara Chodosh explains the relevance and impact of anti- vaxxers. Ava covers all necessary components required to make good review. She fully covered each topic, transitioned between ideas very well, and effectively convey's this articles relevance to society. Throughout this review, I never once stopped to think about the authors intent because Ava so perfectly conveys her point. This article used the perfect combination of rhetorical devices, making good use of Pathos, while also keeping it very educational with the use of logos. Ava's analysis of this article was educational and well developed.
Although Ava did an excellent job writing her review, there were a few thing I believe she could improve on. Firstly, I felt as if she didn't outline all key aspects of the article. For example, she outlined a spelling mistake on the authors behalf, questioning the credibility, where she could have talked about some other substantial aspect of the article. Secondly, the review would be much stronger if she had contextualized more. If she had noted that measles was almost eradicated but was brought back due to anti- vaxxers. Lastly, I felt as if she could have elaborated more on the harm not taking vaccines has on people around you. She could have emphasized the fact that not vaccinating will also have a negative effect on the people you interact with.
Overall, I found Ava's review to be substantially better than most other students article's, and it became evident to me just how much harm this problem is creating. This article was enlightening as well as a wake up call for the anti-vaxxers. I chose this article because the issue of anti-vaxxers has become very relevant among the internet community, and has appeared before me many times. I wanted to get a better understanding of what was going on in our country.