NEW YORK >> Before posting a selfie with her COVID-19 vaccination card on Twitter, Aditi Juneja debated whether to include an explanation of why she was eligible for an injection.
“The first draft of the tweet had an explanation,” says Juneja, a 30-year-old lawyer from New York City.
After thinking about it, she decided to leave out that her body mass index is considered obese, putting her at greater risk of serious illnesses if infected. A friend who revealed the same reason on social media was greeted with hateful comments and Juneja wanted to avoid that.
The launch of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States offers hope that the pandemic that has affected life around the world will finally come to an end. But as the distribution expands in the U.S., variable eligibility rules and unequal access to the coveted doses are also generating guilt, envy and judgment among those who received their doses – especially those apparently young and healthy – and the millions who still eagerly await their turn.
Adding to the doubt about who should receive the shots is the scattered feeling of the launch and the feeling that some may be playing with the system. Faced with a patchwork of confusing scheduling systems, many who are not as technically savvy or socially connected have been waiting, even when new groups of people have become eligible.
Envy and moral judgments about whether others deserve to be prioritized are understandable and can reflect anxiety about being able to get vaccines for ourselves or loved ones, says Nancy Berlinger, bioethics at the Hastings Center.
“There is a fear of losing, or a fear of losing on behalf of your parents,” she says.
Stereotypes about the appearance of a disease also raise doubts about people’s eligibility, although the reason why a person received an injection is not always obvious. In other cases, Berlinger says the trials may reflect deep-seated prejudices about smoking and obesity, compared to conditions that society may consider more “virtuous”, such as cancer.
However, while a mass vaccination campaign is bound to be flawed, Berlinger noted that the goal is to prioritize people based on medical evidence about who is most at risk of infection.
However, the uneven distribution and changing rules across the country have some questioning decisions on the part of local authorities.
In New Jersey, software developer Mike Lyncheski, 58, was surprised to learn, in January, that smokers of any age were eligible, as he knew older people who were still waiting for the injections at the time.
“There didn’t seem to be any medical justification for that,” says Lyncheski, who is not yet qualified for vaccines. He also noted that there is no way to confirm whether people are smokers, leaving the door open for cheating.
The suspicions are being fueled by reports of line jumpers or those that expand definitions of eligibility. In New York, a Soul Cycle instructor was vaccinated after teachers became eligible in January, the Daily Beast reported, and later apologized for his “terrible mistake” in judgment. In Florida, two women wore caps and glasses to disguise themselves as elderly women hoping to score. Hospital board members, trustees and donors were also vaccinated in the beginning, raising complaints about unfair access.
That is why some feel obliged to explain why they were able to get the vaccine. In an Instagram post, Jeff Klein held up his vaccination card and noticed that he received an injection as a volunteer at a mass vaccination center.
“I definitely mentioned it on purpose, because I didn’t want people to get the wrong idea,” says Klein, a 44-year-old musician from Austin, Texas.
While waiting for an injection in Jacksonville, Fla., Amanda Billy, 33, said it could be frustrating to see people her age in other states posting about the vaccination. She understood that state implementations vary, but was anxious because she has a medical condition that makes COVID-19 “very real and scary”.
“I am very happy that they did it. But also, I want to, ”she said in an interview before getting her first chance.
Others are finding that they are opening up to criticism by sharing news that they have a chance. Public figures, in particular, can become targets of divination by strangers.
In New York, local TV news co-host Jamie Stelter posted a photo of himself after receiving the first photo earlier this month. Many responses were positive, but others noted that she did not appear to be old enough or that she should “have contacts”.
Subsequently, Stelter’s co-host, Pat Kiernan, opined and tweeted that the comment “you don’t look so sick” that he received was “an evidence of the hell COVID put us in”.
For Juneja, the decision to get a chance after becoming eligible was not an easy one, given the difficulties she knew others were having to get nominations because of technology, language or other barriers. But she realized that it would not help to stop being vaccinated.
“It’s not like other kinds of things where I could give my place to someone I think is most in need,” she says. “We are all in this situation where we can only really decide for ourselves.”