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I am a student and recently learned that my city is going to open places on the Department of Health website for anyone to get vaccinated if there is a surplus of vaccines. We are still in the first phase of vaccination, but if I looked at the vaccination website frequently I could in theory get an appointment.
Since I am a healthy young person who is not an essential or at risk worker, should I wait to get the vaccine in the hope that someone at higher risk or more essential can take the place? ? Or should I continue to check this website and take the dose as soon as it appears? I’m not taking someone else’s place, am I? Me, Montana
With all that is perishable – whether it’s a head of lettuce or a thawed carton of Covid-19 vaccines – you can have excess and spoilage in the midst of a general shortage. The minimum Pfizer vaccine order is a plateau with approximately 1,200 doses; Once the vials start to thaw, they should be used within five days. With all licensed vaccines, a vial, once opened, should be used within six hours – for Johnson & Johnson, it’s two hours at room temperature. Each Pfizer vial contains up to six doses. Johnson & Johnson, which has a minimum order of 100 doses, puts five doses in a vial; Moderna will soon put 14 doses in each vial.
The point is, vaccines are not “waves”. Vaccination sites can misjudge the number of registrations, and even if everything is well planned, there are sometimes no-shows. Even when a site has a waiting list of qualified recipients, there will be occasional instances where a vaccine will be wasted unless the eligibility rules are suspended.
Maybe the question is not whether you take someone else’s place, but what place you are going to take. I am thinking of the verse we owe apparently to the 19th century English jurist and wit Charles Bowen:
The rain, it’s raining on the fair
And also on the unfair type.
But mainly on the righteous, because
The unjust steals the umbrella of the righteous.
In a situation where expired vaccine doses will be offered to everyone who comes in – lest they just get wasted – you have no reason to believe that the dose you are avoiding will go to someone who needs it more. ; if those concerned with justice hesitate, the dose can simply go to those who are not so concerned, assuming it goes to anyone. There will always be a trade-off between getting the country immunized quickly and fine-tuning the deployment to reflect each person’s risk profile. If a sporadic approach to all comers is the best way to avoid wasted doses, it is not unfair and you are not wrong to participate in it.
There will always be a trade-off between getting the country immunized quickly and fine-tuning the deployment to reflect each person’s risk profile.
There is one more thing to keep in mind. While it is very unlikely at your age to get seriously ill with Covid-19, you can still spread it. In fact, it is not uncommon for people who never have severe symptoms of the disease to transmit the virus. The available evidence suggests that once you are vaccinated transmission is less likely, perhaps much less likely. Like wearing a mask, getting the vaccine helps protect others as well as you. Better a dose to go in your arm than in the trash.
I live in a state that prioritizes vaccinations for people over 65 and anyone over 16 with chronic health conditions. As elsewhere, the rollout was not straightforward: it was reported that last weekend, when the county announced it had 9,000 available appointments, it received more than 30,000 simultaneous phone calls. There is no “proof of chronic illness” required, and our state has made it clear that it trusts the honor system for those who wish to be vaccinated.
I am 44 years old and in fairly good health. I have been overweight since childhood. At times in my adult life, I was much heavier than I currently am, which sits right on the border between “overweight” and “obese” (classified as a BMI of 30 or more; I have about 29 right now). My state considers anyone classified as “obese” to be in the priority group for vaccinations. Is it ethical of me to sidestep the definition of “chronic disease” and, in theory, get ahead of someone else who might be in a much higher risk category? Name omitted
You ask if you can lie to get vaccinated faster. My answer is: No. But there is an interesting question you didn’t ask. Would it be okay to binge eat to increase your BMI to 30? In this scenario, you wouldn’t be procrastinating when you apply for a date. You would surely still abuse the system. Any criteria that can be hacked in this way is problematic for precisely this reason. To be sure, the BMI thresholds states use (in some it’s 30; in others, 40) are inherently arbitrary: a study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last fall has suggested that the hospitalization rate for Covid-19 increases with our BMI in a linear fashion, starting with those who are only slightly overweight. This suggests that keeping a healthy weight rather than increasing it may be the best option.
I worked at the New Farmers’ Markets York City for many years, but since the pandemic hit I switched to a full-time communications job at a church (producing their new live stream, among other things) and only spent one day per week at the market. As a market worker, I am newly eligible for the Covid vaccine. I want to get vaccinated as soon as possible, for my own safety and for the good of everyone, but the truth is my work and my lifestyle keep me fairly isolated and free from infections. Aside from my obvious advantages – or better yet, my privileges – of being highly computer literate, fluent in English, and having time to navigate the Byzantine vaccination system, I believe my limited exposure as a worker essential of one day a week makes my claim to vaccination questionable. I want this vaccine to be deployed ethically and ideally privilege will not play a role in it. But is the eligibility clear and straightforward? Damon, New York State
What is important is to try to remove barriers to immunization – including those posed by not having access to transportation, the Internet or English. Enlisting churches and other community organizations can help reach underserved populations in the city and sometimes reluctant to immunize. In fact, your work with the church might allow you to help here. Once a reasonable system is in place, however, eligibility is, in effect, eligibility. You are not proposing to use internal connections to skip the line. You will reap the benefits of your skills and know-how, but you likely won’t be eligible for ZIP code-restricted FEMA vaccination sites that are specifically targeted to vulnerable communities in the city. All this to say that your laudable concern for justice does not mean that you should reject the proposed umbrella.
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