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Sample Speech 1. The USFG should not mandate vaccines
Hook: While vaccines are crucial for public health, specifics matter. Context/transition: In the case of mandatory vaccinations, forcing the issue will only make matters worse. Thesis: Thus, the States should not mandate vaccines, as vaccine mandates may cause backlash, the government should not have medical authority over minority populations, and thus the government should instead pursue other more effective avenues to increase vaccine coverage.
The hook in the example is a declaratory claim that even though a policy may be important, how the mandate is enforced matters.
The context/transition is moves us to talking about the general discussion of vaccines to the specifics of mandates in the speech.
The thesis clearly states the position and previews the next arguments.
Topic sentence: My first argument is mandated vaccines may cause backlash. Argument 1: For example (transition), history has proven that mandates have had backlash when ill-timed or ill-presented. Reasoning (with evidence): Holzmann and Wiedermann (two authors on one study) from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (national recognized research) in 2019 (date) document that, “mandatory vaccination may lead to opposing attitudes and even less vaccine uptake, particularly in those with existing critical attitudes towards vaccines.” Evidence (or the statistics that back up the reasoning) In specific, they point to Italy, “where four mandatory vaccines were in place before 2017. The coverage for vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella dropped country-wide from 90% to 87% between 2000–16”. More evidence: Similarly, the AMA Journal of Ethics (Organization/publishment, no date as the context establishes when and the date may be misleading to the actual event) documents that mandatory Ebola vaccination in the Democratic Republic of Congo incited attacks against the WHO vaccination centers, worsening the outbreak. Conclusion (summary): While the hope that vaccine mandates would increase coverage and improve public health, the mandate in the status quo would instead be counterproductive.
The topic sentence clearly establishes the main claim that mandates could cause backlash.
Evidence is used to provide reasoning and examples of the claim.
The single argument is that there is backlash against ill-timed or ill-presented vaccine mandates
The evidence is that vaccine coverage dropped in a country with a vaccine mandate in place.
The reasoning is that backlash is due to opposing attitudes.
Conclusion sums up the paragraph, that mandates are counterproductive.
Topic sentence and Claim: My second argument (transition) is that the government should not have medical authority over minority populations. Evidence and reasoning: According to Blow (Author) in the New York Times (credibility–nationally recognized news source) 2020 (date), “The unfortunate American fact is that Black people in this country have been well-trained, over centuries, to distrust both the government and the medical establishment on the issue of health care.” Conclusion: From Tuskegee to forced sterilization, history proves that giving the state medical power is profoundly dangerous for people of color.
Topic sentence and claim: More suitable alternatives to increase vaccination include:
1) federal stipends and state incentive programs;
2) vaccine education programs; and,
3) launching comprehensive marketing plans of vaccination by the federal gov’t.
Reasoning and conclusion: These programs are necessary as Holzmann and Wiedermann recommend, “to improve trust, rectify perceived risks and improve access and affordability of vaccine.”
This last paragraph chunk is an abridged version of the ARE structure and combines many components of essay writing together. The alternative works because it follows common logic, as in if you incentivize and educate people to get vaccinated, more people will get vaccinated.
Summary: In conclusion, rather than benefitting public health, vaccine mandates will increase social division and backlash. Future directions: Instead, we should pursue suitable alternatives which remedy for the lack of trust, correct misconceptions, and improve the access and affordability of the vaccine.
General notes on this speech:
This speech was a hybrid format in between a debate (being on a negative side) and public speaking. Normally, public speeches should not have “sides”, and should instead be simply advocates of policy or a position, which this speech still manages to do.
This speech was compressed to 3 minutes, meaning that some of the ARE structures, as well as the topic sentence/conclusions were smushed together. While this is fine to do, a great alternative would simply have less points, and have the formal structure in place for less body paragraphs.
References
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E36-42. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.36.
Higgins-Dunn, Noah. “Dr. Fauci Says New Data Shows Covid Vaccines Appear to Be Less Effective against Some New Strains.” CNBC, CNBC, 21 Jan. 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/01/21/dr-fauci-says-covid-vaccines-appear-to-be-less-effective-against-some-new-strains.html. Accessed 10 Feb. 2021.
Holzmann H, Wiedermann U. Mandatory vaccination: suited to enhance vaccination coverage in Europe?. Euro Surveill. 2019;24(26):1900376. doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.26.1900376
Stark, Laura, “The Hidden Racism of Vaccine Testing.” The New Republic, 29 June 2020, newrepublic.com/article/158308/hidden-racism-vaccine-testing-adverse-events-review. Accessed 10 Feb. 2021.