I've done this activity with students before as well as doing it myself back in college, but I"d like to see how you all would respond. The task is as follows: you're given a list of nine people who are sick with an unspecified disease. You only have enough vaccine for a certain number of people. Your job is to "rank" these individuals in the order of which you'd give them the vaccine. #1 will survive, #9 will die, with decreasing likelihood of survival as the list goes down.

Mrs. A is a 38 year old mother of seven living in rural West Virginia. Life has been hard for Mrs. A since her husband, a coal miner, died of lung disease five years ago, and she has been forced to live on welfare and Social Security benefits to care for the children, whose ages lie between 14 and 2. Mrs. A is perpetually ill with a congenital heart disease and a large portion of her income goes to her medical care.

Mr. B graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale University with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 2008 and currently works as a nuclear engineer at Yucca Mountain in Arizona. Mr. B was the top chemistry graduate in his class, received top marks in his courses, and was actively involved in the community. He hopes to someday develop alternative energy sources for the developing world.

Miss C is a 16 month old infant, born into a stable, suburban community to two loving parents. Her community does not have the best school system due to low property values, but her parents want nothing but the best for their daughter. Her mother is a nurse at a local hospital, and her father is a history teacher at the high school.

Mr. D is seventy-nine years old and has been retired for forty years, having made his first million at age 24 after helping to invent the compact disc. Mr. D never married and has no immediate family. If chosen to receive the cure, he pledges to donate $500 million to a local children's hospital which would otherwise have been donated to the Boston Red Sox.

Mrs. E is an apathetic 13 year old girl who, despite being exceptionally bright and intelligent, shows no interest in school. She is the daughter of two alcoholic parents, and already has shown signs of future criminal behavior. Although she is contemplating dropping out of school, she shows an active interest in politics and is a tremendous public speaker.

Mr. F was recently paroled from a supermax prison in Colorado for stealing millions of dollars from the Department of Defense using a self-written computer program. Before serving a ten year sentence, he worked as a defense consultant protecting the nations computer infrastructure from foreign attack. Mr. F has been declared rehabilitated by the state of Colorado.

Miss G is a 28 year old kindergarten teacher who lives with her partner, Karen, in Sacramento, California. She loves kids, and hopes to adopt a baby in the next few years, even if she is not allowed to legally marry her partner. Miss G wants to adopt because she was born with a genetic condition rendering her unable to have children, and she is actively involved in the local church.

Mr. H is a former US Congressman and Speaker of the House from Massachusetts, who recently retired from politics at 84 to travel the country in his RV. He was a very popular Representative and served ten consecutive terms. While in office, he supported laws to ban stem cell research, stop illegal immigration, and voted to invade both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. I is a 30 year old small time drug dealer in New York City who has served several short stints in jail for possession charges. Unable to find a real job, he turned to selling drugs to support his elderly mother and autistic son. Mr. I does not use drugs, and would rather not sell them for a living, but sees no alternative due to a poor job market and a lack of tangible skills.