It's OK to shoot me last

The current moral conundrum is who should be first in line to get the COVID-19 vaccine. While many people in certain occupations and demographic categories can make a good case for being treated immediately, I am not one of them.

First some clarification. I am NOT an anti-vaxxer. I get my flu shot every year. I recently got a second round of shingles vaccine. Before a trip to hike Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania about ten years ago, I must have gotten a dozen different needles poked in my arm so that I would be less susceptible to hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, rabies, anthrax and meningitis. As I remember, I made sure my children got their boosters as they were growing up. I don’t believe that the vaccine is a conspiracy to inject a government tracking device in my body nor that it will change me into an Antifa radical.

So while at some future date I anticipate getting the COVID vaccine, I would like a ticket that I could give to someone else who may be more important, but in a lower priority category than I am. As I understand it, just behind health care workers and long-term care facility occupants, we geezers who are over 65 are next in line. 

I would like the option to give my place to a classroom teacher or school librarian. Please.

Back in March, I posted “It’s OK to remove me first.”  In it I wrote about rationing of hospital beds:

... I am in good health. I have a lot of things on my bucket list I still want to do. I would like to live long enough to see great-grandchildren and to watch my current grandsons transition into adulthood. I want to continue playing with friends, writing a little, and reading books. I still contribute in small ways to society through volunteering and charitable giving. I enjoy life. I'm a pretty happy camper.

But should I find myself in triage with patients younger than I am, I hope I have the courage and mental capacity to say, "Please, treat them first." This boomer would not resent being removed.

I have always told my children that should I fall off a cliff and die while hiking, know that I have gone happy. I can think of no worse fate than being in a nursing home with a couple tubes stuck in me just waiting for the end. I am by no means suicidal - I exercise, watch my weight, try to eat sensibly, and have even been practicing social isolation and hand washing. But I know my end will come.

Life has in no way cheated me. I have loved and been loved, adventured, traveled, worked, won awards, played, served, written, and read enough for three lifetimes. I am grateful that this life has been so generous to me. 

If a vaccine will give others who have much more life still ahead of them better odds of having a fulfilling life and contributing more greatly to society, please shoot me last.