Vermont’s anti-white vaccination policy is idiotic and dangerous


Tom Joyce 3 hrs ago

Specifically, the state’s new vaccination scheduling guidelines now allow all nonwhite residents of the state aged 16 and older to schedule appointments for the vaccine as of Thursday. White residents of the state who aren’t some form of essential worker and aren’t in the high-risk category must be 50 years of age or older to sign up.


It’s a move that the state’s Republican governor, Phil Scott, supports. He tweeted the link to sign up on Thursday and wrote, "If you or anyone in your household identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC), including anyone with Abenaki or other First Nations heritage, all household members who are 16 years or older can sign up to get a vaccine!"


It’s a pathetic attempt by the state to be woke and a real-world example of institutional racism.


The argument from progressives and even some liberal Republicans such as Scott is that since minorities are more likely to suffer from the virus, they should have an advantage when it comes to getting the vaccine. One likely reason why minorities are more likely to get the virus is that they are more likely to live in urban areas with higher population densities, where the virus is more prominent. They’re more likely to live in multigenerational households where the virus can spread to older folks. They’re also more likely to work in service industries that put them at higher risk of contracting the virus.


Plus, a lack of trust in the medical community because of historical wrongdoings such as the Tuskegee Experiment is one reason for vaccine hesitancy.
There is a limited amount of the vaccine, however, and picking who can get it based on race is not only morally wrong but also dangerous. Ideally, everyone who wanted the vaccine could get it tomorrow. Because that’s not the world we live in, the right approach would be to vaccinate the people who are at the greatest risk of dying from the virus or facing severe complications first — such as the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions.


If those people are disproportionately nonwhite, that’s fine. However, the idea that a healthy 16-year-old student taking remote classes should have a crack at the vaccine before an obese 49-year-old smoker with a BMI under 40 because of the color of their skin is idiotic.


This is the kind of policy that could end up getting people killed. What if someone in one of the truly needy categories can’t get a vaccine scheduled because someone from a protected class with no health problems books the last vaccine that day ahead of them and the old or sick person ends up getting the virus?


It's worth noting that certain health conditions are more prominent in minority communities, including sickle cell disease. Having sickle cell disease already makes Vermont residents eligible for the vaccine, which is a good thing because the disease puts people at higher risk of dying from the virus. However, that’s not the same thing as creating policies that favor one group or another based on their skin color. That, unlike Scott’s new policy, is based on science.


Policies such as Vermont’s are racist and have no place in the United States of America.

om Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ve...us/ar-BB1ffnlk