I’m reading Those most disenfranchised should get the vaccine first via The Independent Daily Edition https://edition.independent.co.uk/editions/uk.co.independent.issue.111120/data/9724795/index.html
This is an interesting article which would form the basis of an excellent TOK lesson in a year or two.
Who should get the vaccine first? The current suggestion seems to be the most elderly (over 80s) and those with serious health risks and those who care for them. This sounds fair. Then we go to the whole health service (this makes sense to me too), then over 70s, over 60s then who? Who deserves the next round first?
I think it gets difficult here. Which group of people put themselves at greatest risk of exposure while working for the national good? I would argue grocery shop workers, teachers and public transport workers.
These are sectors which are essential to the smooth running of society or to protect the future of our children. They are people who are exposed to large groups of people who can carry and transmit the virus and they work in sectors where large absentee rates due to self-isolation or actual illness causes significant problems.
Maybe the Police and Fire Service next (Ambulance staff included in the NHS). Then roll out through the general population. It should be bases on a combination of risk/need/benefit and this requires a genuine assessment of risk – which in schools, certainly, we haven’t had. The public voice says that schools are safe yet we have staff and students dropping like flies and schools really struggling to cope. It may be true that children tend not to suffer serious illness but they are communicators of the disease and it is impossible to teach effectively while being fully distanced and masked so teachers are putting themselves at risk in order to conserve the quality of education our children deserve.
I expect, though, that the distribution will end up going to groups which are perceived to generate more income in the false belief that protecting the economy now should be the priority. Nigeria Faragw, after all, hasn’t been photographed in a pub for months!