Items

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  2021-04-19

  New Phase of the Pandemic

  It was just announced that in all 50 states, anyone who wants to get the vaccine can get the vaccine (or at least anyone who is 16 years old or older). First of all, this is an amazing accomplishment: just a few months ago, COVID-19 was rapidly proliferating and all we had was the hope of a viable solution. Now, we have all the tools we need to essentially end the pandemic. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the pandemic has reached a new phase. Now that vaccines are freely available, mandatory restrictions and protections -- social distancing, masking, etc. -- should in the next month or two be made voluntary. This is not just a matter of pandemic fatigue. Rather, the point is to incentivize those people who remain resistant to getting vaccinated to change their minds. If everyone is going to keep up these virus mitigation measures in perpetuity, many unvaccinated people may think there is no reason to change their behavior. More generally, we as a society should prioritize helping people who lack -- for whatever reason -- the means to help themselves. By this standard, the willfully unvaccinated -- who could simply go get the shot and therefore take the pressure off the rest of us -- should be closer to the bottom of our priority list. My guess is that the end of mandatory social distancing and masking, along with various entities -- restaurants, concert venues, universities, etc. -- requiring the vaccine will convince many vaccine hesitant people to change their minds.
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  2021-04-07

  Vaccine Passports

  I just wanted to make a brief comment on the new controversy over “vaccine passports.” This phrase refers broadly to the idea of a sort of digital certificate to verify that a person has received one of the COVID-19 vaccines. The idea is that certain businesses, schools, etc., could use this digital certificate to instantly verify who has and has not received the vaccine. I think this is a fantastic idea and I wholeheartedly support it. As for those claiming that this is the latest sign of big government tyranny, a recent editorial about this issue in the Washington Post articulated a fantastic response: “Vaccination is voluntary, and the principle of voluntariness goes both ways. The government is not going to make anyone get a vaccine; every civilian has a right to abstain. By the same token, every restaurant should have the right to know whether a customer is immune before opening its doors: no shot, no shoes, no service.” Exactly -- voluntariness does indeed go both ways. If you make the decision not to get vaccinated, you should be willing to deal with the consequences of that decision, which may include contracting COVID-19 and/or being excluded from certain public places like restaurants, sporting events, or even schools or universities. If a person understands and accepts the risks and limitations they are putting on themselves and still insists on abstaining from the vaccine, I respect that. However, people insisting that they have the right to abstain from the vaccine while opposing the rights of businesses and other institutions to create a safer and more comfortable environment for their customers strikes me as a classic example of having your cake and eating too.
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  2021-03-23

  Vaccine eligiblity

  So apparently the State of Arizona is expanding access to the vaccine so that everyone 16+ is now eligible to receive it. I saw a news story about this, and they mentioned an interesting side effect of this otherwise positive news development. Thus far, the mass vaccination sites have had very little trouble finding volunteers to help run things, in large part because volunteers are usually offered the chance to receive the shot in exchange for their service. However, now that eligibility has opened up to all adults and some teenagers, there is less of a personal incentive to help out at the mass vaccination sites. This means that sites are now having more trouble finding volunteers. My first response to this is that they should come up with at least some money to pay people for their time, if for no other reason than to attract enough people to keep the sites running. Secondly, this has made me consider becoming a volunteer myself. I feel extremely fortunate to have gotten access to the vaccine so early in the process and want to make sure everyone else gets access to it as soon as possible. Of course, this is just talk at this point...we'll see if I actually put my words into action :)
• 2021-02-11

  Thoughts on vaccine hesitancy

  It feels like we are entering a new phase of the pandemic, one in which getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible in now the most important -- though not the only -- public health priority. Perhaps the biggest problem in getting people vaccinated is the on-going issue of vaccine hesitancy. One issue is that a significant portion of people in certain non-white communities seem hesitant to get the vaccine. On the one hand, this is understandable given the ugly history of scientific experiments being conducted on people of color. On the other hand, many of these communities have been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic, and gaining herd immunity via vaccine is really the only viable way out. So I think it's imperative that a great effort is made to get these communities vaccinated. This should start with President Biden -- who won the presidency in large part because of support from the Black community -- and Vice-President Harris -- the first African American vice-president. Because both of them have a significant amount of credibility in this community, they really should prioritize a public campaign to convince people that the vaccine is both safe and absolutely necessary, and also that time is of the essence.
• 2021-02-04

  Vaccine

  On January 17, I received my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ. What most stood out to me about this experience was how streamlined and efficient everything was. I never even had to get out of my car and I only spent a total of about 20 minutes there! I was also struck by the hundreds of employees/volunteers who were at the site around midnight. I'm sure most of them weren't there for the money -- if they were getting paid at all -- but rather were there because they genuinely care about people and want to do their part to put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror. This was a good reminder that, although at times it seems like everything is broken in contemporary America, there are some things that still work. I'll be back at State Farm Stadium on Sunday for my second dose!
• 2021-01-28

  Silences

  I’d like to talk about potential “silences” in the Journal of the Plague Year. Although the journal is shaping up to be a fantastic archive that future historians will surely make use of, it is not a perfect representation of life during the pandemic. In my view, the journal has certain assumptions built into it that tend to produce certain silences. The journal likely encourages contributions that show change rather than continuity. We tend to focus on what is different -- online school, perhaps not participating in large gatherings during the holidays, etc. -- rather than what is basically the same, and there is a lot about our pandemic world that is strikingly similar to the pre-pandemic world. For example, capitalism, and consumer capitalism in particular, has largely continued in its pre-pandemic mode with a few minor tweaks (masks, for example). Stores like Target, Wal-Mart, and Costco have not only been open but have been open for indoor shopping throughout the entire pandemic. Also, people have a tendency to believe that they are spending more time at home and online. While this may be true for some, the fact is that American life had been trending this way for a long time, with more and more people spending more time isolated at home and engaging in less face-to-face social interactions, being less involved in community groups and associations, etc. Lastly, in order to make a contribution to the journal, one needs to have access to the internet; of course, there is a percentage of the American public that lacks internet access and likely an even larger percentage of people worldwide that lack access to the internet.