According to an NBC article published just yesterday, 15 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been discarded since March. That's 15 million in six months. Despite protests that it represents only a fraction of all the vaccines administered, 15 million strikes me as one hell of a lot of wasted vaccine.
I am 81 years old and I have pulmonary fibrosis. That means if I get Covid, with limited lung capacity, I could be in the deep doo-doo. That suggests I should be pounding at the doors of Walgreen's, CVS or Rite-Aid to get one of those vaccinations I'm told they're giving out "no questions asked." It would be my third.
Here's my problem. If I go to the CDC or to Kaiser, my health care provider, and ask if I'm eligible, they tell me I'm not. I will become eligible eight months after my second vaccination, which I got on February 27, i.e., October 27. And I understand that "no questions asked" is not entirely true. They do ask a number of questions, such as, "Are you immunocompromised?"
Apparently, I am not. I say "apparently," but actually I've checked with my pulmonologist and he tells me I am not. My current lung capacity, tested just short of a month ago, came in at 73%. Since I don't get out and exercise very much I have no idea how out-of-breath I would get. I suspect I'm hiding from reality here, but in my own defense, I don't feel winded. I go up and down three flights of stairs a dozen times a day or more and I don't get out of breath. So there's that.
Furthermore, if you follow the guidelines put out by John Muir, another agency, besides the pharmacies, I mean, offering vaccines these days, they offer you this:
Effective August 13, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recommend that people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised receive an additional dose of an mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) at least 28 days after the completion of the initial mRNA COVID-19 vaccine series.
They also say:
When you schedule your appointment, you will be asked to attest to meeting the CDC criteria for immunocompromised people. It’s important to be truthful so that we can ensure that those people who are immunocompromised can get a COVID-19 booster shot sooner. We appreciate your understanding and integrity, which helps us care for our most vulnerable patients first.
What we have here is a genuine moral dilemma. One the one hand, I don't fit the criteria. On the other hand, what do I do with the information that they are throwing away unused doses? If I could be sure that by not using one of their vaccine doses it would go to somebody in Bangladesh or Togo, I would have no hesitation. I would follow the CDC guidelines and wait till after October 27.
Frankly, my motives are colored by the fact that I live in a country which has just spent three hundred million dollars a day for twenty years straight making Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman rich, where as much as a third of the population followed a liar into believing Covid was a hoax and vaccinations were a dumb idea, and where people are now joking that we need Biden to send in the marines to fly women and children out of Texas, as they did in Afghanistan, because the Supreme Court has thrown women in poverty under the bus. (Rich Texas women can get to California for an abortion. Poor women cannot. They will seek bleach or coat hanger solutions.) And where "me first" has been the actual official slogan of our ruling elite for years now. I've been fighting depression for I don't know how long at the fact that while it touts itself as valuing justice and freedom, its more conspicuous values are me-first, truth-is-whatever-you-want-it-to-be, smart people are better than dumb people and you can tell a smart person by how much money he has.
I don't know how to respond to such misplaced values other than not embrace them myself. I want very much not to surrender to temptations to deceive or become violent. Not because I like being self-righteous or think I have the power to change the world, but so that when I try to identify with the Germans, like Bonhoeffer, and others who stood up to Hitler, and with Americans who fought against the Confederacy, I can do so without being a hypocrite.
My husband and at least two of my friends are pushing hard for me to go get the third vaccine. They are clearly acting in what they believe is my best interest (theirs too, of course, but primarily mine) and I love them for it. But first I want a couple questions answered:
1. If I get the vaccine, do I have to lie about being immunocompromised? (I am not, remember.)
2. I I get the vaccine, will I be jumping the line and taking it from somebody whose life could be at risk by not getting that particular dose?
The argument that they'll only throw away the dosage I might have gotten if I don't take it is countered by the argument that my applying for a vaccination could cause them to open another vial which then doesn't get used up. This argument goes both ways, in other words.
Last night I phoned the CDC and explained my dilemma. The person I spoke with, instead of addressing it, simply read off the list of guidelines. I listened patiently, and then explained that I already had carefully read those guidelines many times before and asked her to address my questions. Her answer: that's an ethical question. We can't answer ethical questions. That's up to you.
I protested that it was not just an ethical dilemma, that there were issues of fact involved - will my jumping the gun actually make a difference? If not, why do you have the guidelines? That was apparently taken as an insulting question. The person I was speaking to hung up. To be fair, she had actually mentioned in passing that the CDC had no say in who gets the virus, that for that answer I needed to go to Pfizer directly.
I then contacted Pfizer. You can't get a person, but I filled out a form with my ethical dilemma outlined and tried to e-mail it to them. When I clicked "send," nothing happened. Apparently they let you ask a question on their e-mail form, but they don't have a working system for processing your e-mail. I tried a half dozen different times, checking carefully to see I had filled in all the blanks. No luck. I leave it to you to discover whether Pfizer is simply overwhelmed or is deliberately being evasive.
I understand why an institution would not want to take responsibility for answering your ethical questions. And, in particular, why they would not want to have to answer the question, "Am I justified in jumping the line?" But institutions should be able to provide you with the technical information you need to reach an ethical conclusion.
Pushing ahead in line should not be the only way to go.
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