In the article “The Dangerous Loophole in Our Vaccine Legislation”, Pritchard argues the dangers of not vaccinating our children. In 2015, Protestors stopped a bill that would have ended the state’s religious exemption policy for school vaccinations, which was unfortunate (Pritchard, par. 1). In 2017, there have been 120 people diagnosed with measles, most being unvaccinated (Pritchard, par. 3). The CDC provides a scary truth that the number of unvaccinated kids in school is on a rise due to the increased amount of religious exemptions (Pritchard, par. 5). In 2016-2017 the exemption rate was at 4.9 percent. Allowing parents to use religion as a loophole is dangerous to children (Pritchard, par. 7). Each unvaccinated child leads to increase vulnerability within the community. By eliminating exemptions, we will decrease our community’s susceptibility to infectious diseases (Pritchard, par. 10). Throughout the article, Pritchard effectively persuades the readers.
Some strengths of this article are that Pritchard uses logos and pathos to provide examples and reasoning on why skipping vaccines can be potentially dangerous. In an appeal to logos, she uses several statistics and facts to provide “the scary truth” (Pritchard, par. 4). For example, Pritchard verifies that the “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has seen 120 people during the first 10 months of 2017 diagnosed with measles, most being unvaccinated children.” Clearly, the studies used logical appeal to persuade the reader with support and reasoning. Another appeal used to persuade her audience is pathos or an emotional approach aimed at those not vaccinating their children stating that “exemption rates are growing at an alarming rate” (Pritchard, par. 6) For example, Pritchard emphasizes that “The more parents that choose not to vaccinate their children, the higher the chance that we will suffer through an avoidable measles outbreak.” As a result, the article makes the readers think that not vaccinating your children is harmful. The use of pathos and logos helped persuade the readers and provide support for her claim.
In order for this argument to be as effective as it is, Pritchard’s strengths had to cancel out her weaknesses which they did. In the article, Pritchard had a strong appeal to the audience’s emotional and logical views. Throughout analyzing the article, I learned how important vaccinating your kids are and the effects it could have on the community if you don’t. Overall, this article has strong points and would make a valuable source.
In the article, “Let Parents Make Informed Choices”, Perry argues why parents should be allowed to make their own choices about vaccines. While vaccines are promoted as safe and effective, this is not true for everyone. Vaccine risks are different for everyone because we are not all the same. Doctors are not able to predict how a vaccine could potentially affect children (Perry, par. 1). Inflexible, one-size-fits-all policies and laws discriminate against those who want to make their own vaccine choices (Perry, par. 4). Since 1989, more than $3 billion has been paid to those injured by vaccines. Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights, argues the importance of protecting “flexible medical, religious and conscientious belief exemptions in vaccine laws” (Perry, par. 3). Throughout the article, Perry effectively persuades her readers about why vaccines should be a choice.
One strength in Perry’s argument is her use of pathos. In her appeal to pathos, she uses several facts to provide “many hardships families had to endure” (Perry, par. 5). For example, Perry implies that, “Discrimination and hostility directed at parents seeking non-medical vaccine exemptions should concern everyone.” The study used the support of pathos to persuade the readers by giving them an emotional approach. Another strength in this article is Perry’s use of ethos. She uses facts to state the “one-size-fits-all” argument (Perry, par. 4). For example, Perry expresses that, “not all vaccines are safe and effective for everyone, because everyone has a different body.” By stating that, Perry is using ethos of trust appeals to try to persuade readers that you can’t always just trust something, everyone reacts differently. The use of ethos and pathos helps persuade the audience and provides support to her claim.
In Perry’s effective article, she strives to make an impression on her audience, which in this case would-be parents, but one weakness in Perry’s article is that she states “Inflexible vaccine mandates threaten the health of children” (Perry, par. 1). By stating this, Perry is arguing that all children will have a bad reaction to vaccines, which is false. Perry is also contradicting herself because in the article she had expressed several times that it can’t be assumed that all children will react the same to a certain vaccine. It is hard to criticize an argument with an invalid statement. In conclusion, Perry has an effective article she just has some weaknesses that damage her overall argument.
For Perry’s argument to be effective, the pros would have to out way the cons and it does. Perry uses pathos to create an emotional appeal to her audience and she uses ethos to point out the “trust it” appeal to her audience. Perry has a few weaknesses that affect her argument but overall she had an effective article and it will make a good secondary source.
In the visual, “Percentages of Death from Vaccine-Preventable Diseases”, the graph represents the percentage of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases among children One strength in the visual is the use of logos and stating facts. In the visual, it points out that, “2.5 million deaths are caused by diseases for which vaccines are available”. By stating this, it clearly shows how deadly diseases can be and how vaccines could have prevented that. Another strength of the visual is that it shows specific diseases and their percentages of death. The use of logos or a factual appeal persuades the audience into learning the truth and the dangers of diseases.
A weakness in this visual is that it could’ve provided more disease options and expanded the age group. If the article would have added more diseases and expanded the age group it may have provided a more persuasive visual to the audience. Overall the visual is persuasive and provides effective facts and examples to the audience.
In conclusion, this article is persuasive and effective. It provides good logos and examples, it proves to the audience how deadly certain diseases can be and their effects on certain age groups. It has a small weakness that may affect an audience’s perspective, but overall it’s a strong visual and will be a valuable source.
