The sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912 perfectly illustrates the problem. According to the official British Board of Trade Report, the passengers and crew aboard totaled 2224. That report shows that 710 were saved, and 1,514 perished. There were 20 lifeboats, rated to hold 1,178 people. Rationing of the lifeboats was therefore "necessary." The crew "rationed" the boats on the principle of "women and children first." But other principles could have been chosen: "First Class passengers first!" "Those in steerage (poor emigrants) first!" "Doctors and other 'essential workers' first!"
So in America, who should get the new COVID-19 vaccines first? There will necessarily be "rationing" because there will not initially be sufficient doses of the Covid vaccines for the entire U.S. population.
On December 3, the CDC recommended that initial supplies of COVID-19 vaccines should be allocated to:
• Healthcare personnel and long-term care facility residents (Phase 1a).
On Dec. 22, the CDC recommended the next two allotments. In Phase 1b:
• Frontline essential workers such as fire fighters, police officers, corrections officers, food and agricultural workers, United States Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and those who work in the educational sector (teachers, support staff and daycare workers).
• People aged 75 years and older because they are at high risk of hospitalization, illness, and death from COVID-19. (People aged 75 years and older who are also residents of long-term care facilities should be offered vaccination in Phase 1a).
In Phase 1c:
• People aged 65—74 years because they are at high risk of hospitalization, illness, and death from COVID-19. (People aged 65—74 years who are also residents of long-term care facilities should be offered vaccination in Phase 1a).
• People aged 16—64 years with underlying medical conditions which increase the risk of serious, life-threatening complications from COVID-19.
• Other essential workers, such as people who work in transportation and logistics, food service, housing construction and finance, information technology, communications, energy, law, media, public safety, and public health.
As I look at the CDC's recommendations, I have no quarrels with their reasonableness.
Given the fact that federal officials have estimated that there will be only enough doses to vaccinate 20 million Americans in December, 30 million in January and 50 million in February (with more doses coming thereafter), some rationing plan is at present clearly necessary. The CDC plan, detailed above, seems both necessary and reasonable.
That being said, I am, nevertheless, extremely wary of the government's power to ration. The CDC did well, but just as the "power to tax is the power to destroy," so is the power to ration.
I gave the example of"rationing" aboard the Titanic advisedly. The Titanic's 20 life-boats were built to accommodate 1,178 people. Yet only 710 survived! Passengers and crew numbering 1,514 drowned. The fact that the boats were designed to accommodate 1,178 people and that only 710 survived, brings into question the wisdom of the "women and children first" rationing principle. Couple that with the fact that the ocean was dead calm that night, and that going into the 28 degree water meant death in minutes, I have always wondered why the boats weren't filled beyond their stated capacity?
Should not the principle of rationing have been, "Overfill the boats to almost the point where they would be in danger of taking on water?" Or at least, "Make sure every boat is filled to stated capacity; no half-filled boats!"
The danger in "government rationing" is also clearly illustrated in the proposal of other "experts" whose principle of vaccine distribution would have been to give "priority access" to people of color (Blacks and Hispanic people) because the pandemic has exacted a disproportionately heavy infection and death toll on their communities.
A rationing danger inevitably works its way in, when the government gives priority to"frontline essential workers such as fire fighters, police officers, corrections officers, food and agricultural workers, United States Postal Service workers, etc."
But who else is a "frontline essential worker?" Is a congressman a frontline "essential worker" such as a U.S Postal Service Worker? Or is a congressman even more essential?
Exactly how essential is Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican? Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat?
Rep. Larry Buschon, a Republican? Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat? Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Republican? They all jumped to the front of the vaccine line.
In W.S. Gilbert's, "The Mikado," Ko-ko, the "Lord High Executioner" sings, "I've got a little list of society offenders who might well be underground and who never would be missed!"
I suspect that W. S. Gilbert, rather than deeming Pelosi, Rubio, et al., essential, would have put all five on Ko-ko's little list.
When congressmen and bureaucrats start allotting benefits to those they deem "essential," it is never long before they start allocating them to themselves, their "friends," and their political supporters. Even worse, World War II history shows that rationing can easily morph into death panels. The rations provided those in the concentration camps were insufficient to sustain life. Still doubt? Visit Venezuela.
First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on January 1, 2021
Copyright 2021
John Donald O'Shea
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