Value subtracted

 "I don't know how you do it," I gushed to my friend. "I am just so thankful." Where I had run up to brick wall after brick wall, she had managed to wrangle two appointments for my COVID jab-eligible loved ones. 

And they wouldn't have to shuffle off to Buffalo to get the elusive shot in the arm. 

"Don't thank me," she responded with a soft laugh I've come to know as the sound of incredibly kind and thoughtful people tend to have. 

"I'm in this for purely selfish reasons. I want to make sure everyone who can get a vaccine does. It will make us all safer."

All she wanted in return was for me to spread the word. There may be other local candidates that she could benefit from her luck at snagging appointments. She felt strongly that such skills should benefit those who needed it most: the elderly without internet service and the essential workers who may lack the time it requires to sit in front of a computer to keep hitting refresh.

Of course, my heart aches for the people who are, for the moment, one letter out of reach of the protective injection. They are the people who are immunocompromised or who possess other co-morbidities that make this illness so dangerous. 

No one would say they are less deserving. The same goes for all the folks who, as 1As and 1Bs, could be rolling up their sleeves right now but can't secure an appointment. We are all at the mercy of a deluge of interest and a dearth of supply.

It's easy to complain about the roll-out of this vaccine. There has certainly been no shortage of fear that the cresting wave of new infections will swamp us next.

Everyone is tired. Everyone is anxious. No one wants to be vulnerable ... especially when some of us have been more used to having timely access to healthcare than others. 

To date, the US has administered roughly 62 percent of its available vaccine covering 10.27 percent of the population. This seems like an enormous achievement if those numbers are correct, considering the Trump administration's mismanagement and the states' roll-outs leading to more confusion and chaos as supply inequities coupled with understaffed healthcare facilities became overwhelmed with patients, who were responsible for finding their own vaccination appointments. 

Predictably this has meant we've seen many stories about people jumping the line to get the jab. 

It is literally all the rage. 

Some people holding others up between their proverbial fingers, asking point blankly why anyone in charge would think others ... a restaurant server, a grocery store bagger, was more valuable than ...  "Me."

We don't even pause before saying words like these aloud anymore. We believe them, in our souls. We value each other based on a paycheck or a job description. 

And yet, the elderly, the supermarket clerks, and the health care workers are all still out there waiting for a line in which they can stand. 

These are the up-front workers, the people most likely to die, and those who are most likely to be at the center of transmission. 

We all deserve to be protected. And slowing the spread will protect us all a little bit better.