Recently, Many Critics of the U.S. Government have Pointed Out that this Country is the Only Industrialized Nation Without a National Vaccine Laboratory

Question: Recently, many critics of the U.S. Government have pointed out that this country is the only industrialized nation without a national vaccine laboratory and suggested that this lack makes the American public more vulnerable than other advanced nations to diseases such as avian flu, or other flu epidemics. When asked at a press conference, a government official said these critics are disloyal and thus wrong about the public’s vulnerability. To support his claim, he cited the international preeminence of American doctors and hospitals as well as the middle ranking of the United States among United Nations member nations in the health category of infant mortality, life span, and nutrition. He also added that all of the Europeans that he knew preferred to undergo major medical treatments in the United States rather than in the socialized medical system in place in their home countries.

All of the following are flaws in the official’s logic EXCEPT:

1. The official accepts that the quality of physicians and hospitals is a major factor, albeit not the only one, affecting the public’s vulnerability to disease.
2. The critics could be disloyal but not wrong.
3. The Europeans that the official cited are overwhelmingly wealthy males over the age of fifty.
4. The official relies on health statistics that are based on a complete accounting of deaths, injuries, and illnesses suffered by the American public from all causes, including the ten percent attributable to infectious diseases.
5. The UN health ranking that the official cited is based on an almost complete survey of the nations of the world.

“Recently, Many Critics of the U.S. Government have Pointed Out that this Country is the Only Industrialized Nation Without a National Vaccine Laboratory” -is a GMAT Critical question. This particular GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘Kaplan’s GMAT Prep Plus 2021’. This particular topic is the “Find the Flaw” type of question. In this question, the candidates are provided with flaws. They need to find which is not a flaw as per the logic provided in the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument.  The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: A
Explanation: We have to select the option that is not a flaw in the official statement. 
Let’s go through all the available options and choose the one that is not a flaw in the official’s logic.

Option A: The official accepts that the quality of physicians and hospitals is a major factor, albeit not the only one, affecting the public’s vulnerability to disease.
- Option A states that the official accepts that a major factor that affects the public’s vulnerability to diseases is the quality of physicians and hospitals, However, they are not the only factor. The statement does not contradict anything that the official has said and also, and it does not highlight any flaw that the official has made in his argument. So, Option A is correct.

Option B: The critics could be disloyal but not wrong.
- According to Option B, the critics could be disloyal but not wrong. This is a flaw in the official’s logic because being disloyal does not imply that one is wrong as disloyalty shows allegiance and not accuracy. Option B is incorrect.

Option C: The Europeans that the official cited are overwhelmingly wealthy males over the age of fifty.
- Option C states that the Europeans, that the official is talking about are wealthy males over the age of fifty. The Europeans can visit the US rather than any other country because of a number of factors like economics, technology, etc. It does not address the fact that the American public is vulnerable to diseases. Option C is incorrect.

Option D: The official relies on health statistics that are based on a complete accounting of deaths, injuries, and illnesses suffered by the American public from all causes, including the ten percent attributable to infectious diseases.
- As per Option D, the health statistics are prepared, keeping the death, injuries, and illnesses suffered by American people from all types of causes, that includes infectious diseases too. This would be a flaw because the claim opposed by the official only related to some infectious diseases and the statistics include deaths and illnesses from all causes. So, Option D is incorrect.

Option E: The UN health ranking that the official cited is based on an almost complete survey of the nations of the world.
- Option E states that the UN health ranking is based on a complete survey that includes all the countries of the world. This is a flaw because it is possible that the rankings of the US are misleading as the survey includes all the nations of the world and does not compare the US to countries of similar economic standing. So, Option E is incorrect. 

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