Vaccine Equity

It’s interesting how ideas bounce around the world.  Back in February and March, the stories in the United States were about how hard it was to get the vaccine and whether shots were being distributed “equitably”.  There were complaints that minority communities were not getting their fair share of vaccines and that whites were getting shots that “belonged” to minorities.

Much the same thing happened earlier this month in New Zealand.  David Seymour, the head of ACT New Zealand, a right/libertarian party, got in trouble for publishing a “Priority Access Code for Maori” for Covid vaccinations.  But as Mr. Seymour explained, his publishing of the code had no practical effect.  The code wasn’t private; other people knew it; and the people giving the shots were vaccinating anybody who showed up anyway.  Plus, New Zealand has had fewer than 2,000 cases of Covid and just two deaths since January 1, so it really doesn’t matter the exact order in which people get shots.  The key is getting them vaccinated.

Which was my thought in February.  The most important thing was to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, not getting them vaccinated in some proper order.  Instead of making sure people got shots in the exactly fairest order, we just needed to get them vaccinated.  And that’s where we are today: The problem isn’t equity; it’s that we have too many doses and not enough people who want them. 

Leaders in Washington and the media talk a lot about Trump supporters who haven’t gotten, and won’t get, shots: They are hurting the rest of us by allowing the virus to circulate more freely and by taking up hospital beds from other people who need them.  People need to get vaccinated, though I am not sure shaming and blaming them is the best way to convince them to do so.

There are other groups who aren’t getting shots, too, and I haven’t seen the media talking about them,¹ which is good since, as I said, I don’t think demonizing people is a good way to get them to get shots.  But we do need to think about who isn’t getting shots because, if we want to get more people vaccinated, we need to know who isn’t getting shots and why, so we can figure out the best way to help and encourage them to get vaccinated.  For some people, maybe it’s more information.  For others, maybe it is making it easier for them to get to where the shots are being given.² 

To get through the current wave of the virus, and hopefully get to the point we can live with whatever bit of Covid won’t go away, the most important thing we can do is to get people vaccinated.  Different people will be convinced to get shots in different ways.  But to get where we want to get to, we have to be honest about who’s vaccinated and who’s not, so we can figure out the best way to get them shots and/or get shots to them.
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¹ To see what I am talking about, compare the vaccination rates in various communities in Cook County, Illinois.  See here.
² Some in the media are saying that minorities are suffering more from Covid because of racism.  Covid may be affecting them more because they are in poorer health, but racism is not stopping them from getting shots.  They can decide for themselves.  They have agency.  They can read the information that is out there.  If they haven’t gotten a shot, it’s not racism.  It’s their own decision.  All we can do is to figure out what obstacles there may be to them getting a shot and try to address those obstacle