If we are
honest with ourselves, that’s the way most of us feel. Not everyone, but most. [Note 1]
Follow the logic: A disease is killing lots of people, sickening a WHOLE BUNCH of others and destroying a robust economy. They have developed a vaccine which – apparently – works well. So, I want it. Now.
But no. The government is distributing it to certain people, starting with medical folks most exposed. And other groups – nursing home residents, educators, and so on – will follow. But they’ll get it before ME.
Oh, and many important government people have rolled up their sleeves to “set a good example.” Many of them are in groups which are supposed to get it AFTER me. Hey, how about setting a really good example – Pass on it and give it to me.
So the “triage bug” strikes again. It’s like we’re stuck in an episode of MASH – “Triage!!” That’s where decisions are made about what order medical services will be provided. If you are triaged low and you die, you’re just out of luck.
Harrumph.
But triage is what we do in almost every activity. On my desk are files, say, of six people in jail. They all want out. For some, the chances are pretty decent. For some, impossible. How do I decide who’s file to work on? Triage. I have limited resources, my time. I will either use them most effectively for the greatest number, do something irrational, or be paralyzed.
You triage all the time. You allocate your resources, your time, your money, to be the most effective. In other words, you discriminate.
Discrimination is not all bad. A doctor is more likely to be exposed to Covid and sicken or die than a healthy, handsome, debonair, young lawyer. I have to live with that. If I come down with Covid, I’ll be REALLY upset that the doc got the vaccine ahead of me. But it’s still the right thing to do.
I don’t have to like it. But life is, indeed, unfair. All we can ever do is our best.
Mizpah!
Note 1: So-called “Anti-vaxers” say that the vaccine
is an evil plot or ineffective or will cause what it’s supposed to prevent or
other urgent reasons to avoid it. They
MIGHT be right, but that’s not the way to bet.
Their theories lie a little to the north of a Martian plot and well
south of the chance of drawing a winner with a lottery scratch off ticket.
