first vaccination rant of the year
Content warning: i am going to go off on some controversial vaccine politics, so please skip if you are not interested.
I just heard from someone i know that a couple close to them who is in the 65ish bracket has already gotten the vaccine.
This, while many long-term care facilities still haven't received any doses.
What's the reasoning? Because this couple registered with the government as "caregivers" of one partner's 90something mother, who is not under their care at all. The mother is in fact a full-time resident at one of the finest private long-term care facilities in the region, one where the staff and residents were amongst the first people in the country to be vaccinated.
This fucking bullshit drives me nuts. This. THIS is the fucking reason why it is some weak ass shit to complain about "genocide" when a couple of folks at the CDC deem to even discuss the recommendation that for social equity reasons, people under 65 in high risk groups could be considered for vaccination ahead of people 65 and up (who are disproportionately white and wealthy). Note that the CDC didn't actually go ahead with the recommendation, because there was a huge fucking shitstorm about it in both the right-wing and the centrist press. Even some smarty-pants left-wingers started baying hysterically at the suggestion - not even a published policy - that perhaps white, wealthy 65 year olds shouldn't automatically get dibs after frontline workers. (This, after months of tough guy talk about how only old people die of corona, so old people should just stay home and let the rest of us go back to work.)
The reality is, a lot of over 65s who are not in long-term care facilities are actually relatively well-positioned to ride this virus out. Those who own their own property can afford to remain safe at home all day, order in delivery, and generally live a decent life. Although they are at much higher risk of complications if they do get infected, they also have a much lower chance that they will be exposed in the first place. At least compared to people who have to work in crowded environments or who live in shared lodging. Which is to say, poor and working class people, who (in America) are disproportionately black.
Here in Canada the government understood that we have a high risk minority group, which is indigenous people, so First Nations and other indigenous communities are high on the list of who is going to get the vaccine. As it fucking should be. Even if it weren't for all the other risk factors, there are nations that would be literally decimated if they lost just 50 members. No fucking white person or indeed any other ethnic minority in Canada can claim the same kind of cultural loss if 50 of them die. If we care about diversity, if we care about the rich tapestry of Canadian culture, if we care about trying to make this a better country for everyone and not just the top 1%, of course we shouldn't be putting rich white people at the top of the vaccination list.
And that's why it's so fucking embarrassing that this shit has happened in Canada. This is exactly the reason why the government should consider doling out benefits to truly at-risk populations first. Because people who are rich and powerful are exactly the ones who will find a way to game the system anyway! This retired couple, who have admitted to wanting the vaccine so they can fly to their holiday home in Mexico, bullshitted the government about being a caregiver for someone who is already in the best long-term care money can buy... of course they are rich and white! Who else would have the fucking nerve to bullshit the government like this? Who else would feel so goddamn entitled to literally identify themselves into "frontline worker" status, just so they can cut ahead of actual, real life, frontline workers? While rural parts of the country haven't even gotten a single vial of the vaccine yet? FUCK THAT NOISE.
It infuriates me. Of course it's the rich and powerful who will make this shit happen for them. And by "rich and powerful" i'm not talking billionaires on a yacht - they probably already got the vaccine 6 months ago when the trials started - i'm talking people with their own house, maybe high 6 figures in their retirement portfolio. I.e. plain old upper middle class retirees.
Now. I'm not trying to put myself at the front of the line here. Lord fucking knows i am the end of the line. I'm not gonna get the vaccine till Q3 or Q4 and you can bet your ass i will be sitting here on LiveJournal moaning and complaining about how everyone else gets to travel internationally while i am still greyhounding it up through these small towns trying not to cough on anyone. But come on. 100,000 Canadians have been vaccinated to date. That's a fraction of a percentage of the population. 0 people in Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon. And we're already giving doses to assholes who are effectively buying their way in? Really?
Fuck that. Fuck that.
Anyway, that is my rant.
I just heard from someone i know that a couple close to them who is in the 65ish bracket has already gotten the vaccine.
This, while many long-term care facilities still haven't received any doses.
What's the reasoning? Because this couple registered with the government as "caregivers" of one partner's 90something mother, who is not under their care at all. The mother is in fact a full-time resident at one of the finest private long-term care facilities in the region, one where the staff and residents were amongst the first people in the country to be vaccinated.
This fucking bullshit drives me nuts. This. THIS is the fucking reason why it is some weak ass shit to complain about "genocide" when a couple of folks at the CDC deem to even discuss the recommendation that for social equity reasons, people under 65 in high risk groups could be considered for vaccination ahead of people 65 and up (who are disproportionately white and wealthy). Note that the CDC didn't actually go ahead with the recommendation, because there was a huge fucking shitstorm about it in both the right-wing and the centrist press. Even some smarty-pants left-wingers started baying hysterically at the suggestion - not even a published policy - that perhaps white, wealthy 65 year olds shouldn't automatically get dibs after frontline workers. (This, after months of tough guy talk about how only old people die of corona, so old people should just stay home and let the rest of us go back to work.)
The reality is, a lot of over 65s who are not in long-term care facilities are actually relatively well-positioned to ride this virus out. Those who own their own property can afford to remain safe at home all day, order in delivery, and generally live a decent life. Although they are at much higher risk of complications if they do get infected, they also have a much lower chance that they will be exposed in the first place. At least compared to people who have to work in crowded environments or who live in shared lodging. Which is to say, poor and working class people, who (in America) are disproportionately black.
Here in Canada the government understood that we have a high risk minority group, which is indigenous people, so First Nations and other indigenous communities are high on the list of who is going to get the vaccine. As it fucking should be. Even if it weren't for all the other risk factors, there are nations that would be literally decimated if they lost just 50 members. No fucking white person or indeed any other ethnic minority in Canada can claim the same kind of cultural loss if 50 of them die. If we care about diversity, if we care about the rich tapestry of Canadian culture, if we care about trying to make this a better country for everyone and not just the top 1%, of course we shouldn't be putting rich white people at the top of the vaccination list.
And that's why it's so fucking embarrassing that this shit has happened in Canada. This is exactly the reason why the government should consider doling out benefits to truly at-risk populations first. Because people who are rich and powerful are exactly the ones who will find a way to game the system anyway! This retired couple, who have admitted to wanting the vaccine so they can fly to their holiday home in Mexico, bullshitted the government about being a caregiver for someone who is already in the best long-term care money can buy... of course they are rich and white! Who else would have the fucking nerve to bullshit the government like this? Who else would feel so goddamn entitled to literally identify themselves into "frontline worker" status, just so they can cut ahead of actual, real life, frontline workers? While rural parts of the country haven't even gotten a single vial of the vaccine yet? FUCK THAT NOISE.
It infuriates me. Of course it's the rich and powerful who will make this shit happen for them. And by "rich and powerful" i'm not talking billionaires on a yacht - they probably already got the vaccine 6 months ago when the trials started - i'm talking people with their own house, maybe high 6 figures in their retirement portfolio. I.e. plain old upper middle class retirees.
Now. I'm not trying to put myself at the front of the line here. Lord fucking knows i am the end of the line. I'm not gonna get the vaccine till Q3 or Q4 and you can bet your ass i will be sitting here on LiveJournal moaning and complaining about how everyone else gets to travel internationally while i am still greyhounding it up through these small towns trying not to cough on anyone. But come on. 100,000 Canadians have been vaccinated to date. That's a fraction of a percentage of the population. 0 people in Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon. And we're already giving doses to assholes who are effectively buying their way in? Really?
Fuck that. Fuck that.
Anyway, that is my rant.