The Greatest Good

There is no doubt that this pandemic has brought with it lots of challenges. Here, in a first world nation, we have seen it hitting hardest those who are underprivileged, who have crowded living conditions, who work at minimum wage jobs (without sick days) to put food on the table for their families. Some areas like Toronto have targeted the people in these hot spots with pop-up clinics in order to get them vaccinated as soon as possible and curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus in these neighbourhoods. This has resulted in a higher percentage of vaccines being administered in these areas as compared to some of the more affluent ones, where it has brought down the number of new cases dramatically.

But then we have the luxury of having an adequate supply of vaccine arriving monthly. What if we didn’t? What if we were like South Africa where a week or so ago only 2% of the health care workers had been vaccinated, where 3 million of their citizens over 60 are waiting for their first shot …. and where there are no, or a very limited supply of vaccines available? South Africa’s answer to the dilemma was to open the vaccinations up this past week to people between the ages of 50-59 because they are (and I quote) ‘of significant economic importance’.

Taken in conjunction with the history of apartheid in South Africa which officially ended in 1994 , their decision makes sense. Many of the young men and teenage boys lost their lives fighting to end apartheid, so that the society there today has a gap in their workforce of men between 35 & 50. If those from 50 -59 who are currently the mainstay of the economy were to die from or be sidelined by COVID-19 there is no one ready to step into their shoes when it is time for the economy to reopen. Without the economy coming back, the lives of the underprivileged will go from bad to worse in a society that has virtually no safety net to catch them.

Two very different responses to the same problem: coming out of this pandemic in the best situation possible for the largest number of our population by making the best use of those resources at hand.

(Full disclosure: Our daughter and son-in-law are among those between 50-59 and will be getting their first shot a few days from now instead of sometime next year!)

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NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

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