Conventional wisdom suggests vaccinating elderly people first in flu season, because they are at greatest risk of dying if they contract the virus. This year’s flu virus poses particular risk to elderly people and almost none at all to younger people, particularly children. Nevertheless, health professionals are recommending vaccinating children first against the virus rather than elderly people.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest reason for the health professionals’ recommendation?


A. Children are vulnerable to dangerous infections when their immune systems are severely weakened by other diseases.

B. Children are particularly unconcerned with hygiene and therefore are the group most responsible for spreading the flu virus to others.

C. The vaccinations received last year will confer no immunity to this year’s flu virus.

D. Children who catch one strain of the flu virus and then recover are likely to develop immunity to at least some strains with which they have not yet come in contact.

E. Children are no more likely than adults to have immunity to a particular flu virus if they have never lived through a previous epidemic of the same virus.


OG V 2017 New Question (Book Question: 139)


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My guess is that A is the most tempting wrong answer choice here since it gives us a reason for not wanting kids to get sick, and that is sort of what we're looking for.

B also gives us a reason for not wanting kids to get sick.

So it would be pretty easy to get stuck between the two answers.

One thing that can really help in this situation is to compare the strength of the language in the answer choices.

In B we are told not just that kids are likely to spread the disease but they are the group most responsible for spreading the flu to others.

In A we are just told that children 'are vulnerable' to other diseases when their immune systems are severely weakened. But this language is much weaker. Most importantly, it doesn't tell us that kids are more vulnerable than anybody else. It's possible that the elderly are far more vulnerable when their immune systems are weakened.

So B gives us a much stronger reason to get the kids vaccinated first. This way the group that is most likely to spread the disease if they have are less likely to get a chance to do so.

Guideline: In general, strong language tends to be better than weak langauge in questions that include 'if true' in the stem (which of the following if true would most strengthen..., which of the following, if true, would most weaken..., which of the following, if true, provides the best reason for...) For these questions, we are looking for an answer choice that would have a great impact, and strong language is more likely to have a significant impact than weak language.

Of course this doesn't mean that you should just scan for strong langauge and click the answer with the strongest. But it does mean that if you're down to a couple answer choices, you can compare the strength of the language and then think about whether it affects the strength of the answer choices.

And be sure to remember that the 'stronger tends to be better than weaker' guideline doesn't apply to all CR questions. It applies only to 'if true' q-stems. For other question-types the reverse guideline is more reliable. So be careful.

Awaiting the OA

Conventional wisdom suggests vaccinating elderly people first in flu season because they are at greatest risk of dying if they contract the virus. This year’s flu virus poses particular risk to elderly people and almost none at all to younger people, particularly children. Nevertheless, health professionals are recommending vaccinating children first against the virus rather than elderly people.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest reason for the health professionals’ recommendation?
A. Children are vulnerable to dangerous infections when their immune systems are severely weakened by other diseases.
Okay. This is just a fact set. It's already given in the premise that the virus doesn't impact the children.

B. Children are particularly unconcerned with hygiene and therefore are the group most responsible for spreading the flu virus to others.
Correct. If the children spread the virus then elderly people who play with the children will be impacted.

C. The vaccinations received last year will confer no immunity to this year’s flu virus.
Out of scope

D. Children who catch one strain of the flu virus and then recover are likely to develop immunity to at least some strains with which they have not yet come in contact.
Okay. This is a fact set. It depicts the ability of a child, and we are not worried about the child's ability.

E. Children are no more likely than adults to have immunity to a particular flu virus if they have never lived through a previous epidemic of the same virus.
Okay. This is again a fact set. We have not been given any information about an epidemic.
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Am I the only one who finds Answer B funny because a vaccinated child still can carry and spread the virus like an unvaccinated child does. Being vaccinated and being able to spread the virus seem independent.

A. Children are vulnerable to dangerous infections when their immune systems are severely weakened by other diseases.
- ok. But then this does not give a reason as to why children first ?

B. Children are particularly unconcerned with hygiene and therefore are the group most responsible for spreading the flu virus to others.
- looks good. This could be the reason as children have a tendency to get unhygienic and spread the virus to others/elderly people.

C. The vaccinations received last year will confer no immunity to this year’s flu virus. - but children are not going to be affected by virus this time, as stated. Eliminate.

D. Children who catch one strain of the flu virus and then recover are likely to develop immunity to at least some strains with which they have not yet come in contact.
- doesn't explain why first. Eliminate.

E. Children are no more likely than adults to have immunity to a particular flu virus if they have never lived through a previous epidemic of the same virus. - ok, then why should they be vaccinated first ?

Thus, B is the best.

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