Thread by @chrisgeidner

At some point in the past 24 hours, I went from being happy for anyone getting the vaccine to wanting to see medical/occupational documentation explaining why any non-medical provider under 65 is posting about getting the vaccine.

I know it’s not healthy thinking for me, as I know there are many reasons why people are getting the vaccine under their jurisdiction’s policies and, regardless, it’s not any of my business, but that’s where I am at after a year of this — and I know I’m not alone.

I’d love to read something from the smart people who have been writing their way — and our way — through this pandemic about this! Tell me how to deal with these feelings in a compassionate way that will keep me sane!

And, yes, I know the underlying logic — I should be happy that more shots are getting into more arms. And the logical part of me is. But like I said, at some point in the past 24 hours, logic took a backseat to feelings. And “vaccine envy” has taken over.

It’s hard, is my point. Even if every person I’ve seen posting about getting their first vaccine shot qualifies under their jurisdiction’s standards, the fact is that we’re now at a point that it’s not clear to others why some people are getting the vaccine and they’re not.

And that’s because many of the subgroups that are now becoming eligible aren’t necessarily external things that we know about and because there are different qualifying categories everywhere.

I’m not talking about inappropriate vaccine distribution even, I’m talking about the difficulty, a year into this, as a larger group of people begin getting vaccinated with such a divergent, diffuse vaccine program where it’s not clear why certain people are getting it.

And, in a lot of ways, it can’t be clear! We don’t want people to have to display which underlying medical conditions qualified them for the vaccine. I’m not saying it’s a solvable issue, but I think it is going to be an issue for the next months, so we should address it!

To clarify here: This is not about any individuals seeking the vaccine who should be doing so! We really want that. I really want that. This thread is about gov’t failure all around to prepare for all parts of this — and, tonight, I focused on one mental health aspect of this.

This was an attempt to get at yet another unaddressed mental health aspect of this all. It wasn’t actually about those getting the vaccine — but the reality of those without it yet. This will have an effect on them — more for some than others.

Yes, there are solutions for how people can best deal for now — many great comments in this thread — but, my concern is not so much about me as the fact that this is yet another way our govts’ communication and coordination failures have left people worse off in this moment.

To anyone I upset tonight w/ any of this thread, I’m sorry. I truly didn’t want to make anyone more upset at an already upsetting time. I wanted to discuss an aspect that was concerning me today—but I was figuring out how I wanted to discuss it while doing so. Which is not smart.

Anyway, I am off to bed. Not feeling great, but — truly — appreciative of this community and all we can learn from each other. Night, all, and let us try to be good to one another — and ourselves.