![]() ![]() “This is speaking from my personal opinion, but I think those fears are normal and are very understandable,” Jen Balkus, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Washington, told me. The vaccine immunization line in Philadelphia. But the perception is that because this person is getting the vaccine before others who still need it, they’re somehow pulling the ladder up behind them - especially since the vaccine is so scarce. Someone getting vaccinated doesn’t visibly put anyone else in danger of getting the virus the way a maskless person or quarantine traveler does. ![]() Vaccine shaming is very different from the other two examples. The targets have changed over time, but the shame is constant. Now the shaming Eye of Sauron has spotlit people who might be skipping the vaccination line. Then the shaming of people who flout social distancing rules and post on social media. We’ve seen shaming of people who weren’t wearing masks. One of the big reasons we scapegoat people who get sick is that it helps us rationalize our own fears about a disease. The US has a history and culture of associating disease with blame, shame, and personal failure. Shaming people, especially when it comes to disease, is something Americans have proven themselves to be really good at. It’s coaxed ugly behavior that, it turns out, really does nothing when it comes to equity or access or eliminating “cheating.” Shaming someone comes from a place of fear But the rollout has also awakened American fears of inequity and sharpened them into shame and blame. The vaccine, we’ve been assured over and over, is the light at the end of the tunnel. While public health officials and bioethicists say those who qualify should not hesitate to get it, the equation might not be as simple as “the more, the better” either. While this entire rollout feels like the Hunger Games with a vicious peanut gallery, one of the things that keeps getting bandied about is the idea that more vaccines in more arms is better. ![]() A newscaster in DC was suspended because he ranted vociferously online about how fat people don’t deserve the vaccine. ![]() But while Stacey Griffith was fudging the rules in plain sight, the discourse has exploded in all directions: into allegations that people might be lying about underlying health conditions into anecdotes about people going to different states entirely to obtain injections into interrogations about how much a person weighs, since body mass index (BMI) is a vaccine qualifier in states like New York. A certain semi-famous cycling class instructor made national news, including on this website, last month when she obtained a vaccine by saying she was an educator. While eligibility varies from state to state, allegations of cheating the system usually manifest when someone sees - usually also on social media - a person getting a vaccine who they don’t believe fulfills the requirements. On social media, various users are screaming into the ether about the people they feel have “cheated” to get vaccines. I won’t tell anyone because, frankly, people are ruthless. I will make my difficult-to-procure appointment, wait for the day to come, probably take an Uber to the glass mountain called the Jacob Javits Center, get my little jab, and keep my vaccination a secret between me and the volunteer who injected me. When I get one of the many Covid-19 vaccines available in the US - and I will surely be jumping at the first opportunity - I am not going to tell anyone. ![]()
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