As millions of Americans await a coronavirus vaccination, could wealth status play a role in where people land on the priority list?
University of San Francisco Professor Taryn Vian, who is an expert in global health and corruption, said that it is inevitable that the "well-connected" will make phone calls in order to get earlier access to a COVID-19 vaccine. For example, she pointed to a first distribution error at Stanford University.
NOW: There's an enormous protest going on at Stanford
— mohamad safa (@mhdksafa) December 18, 2020
Hospital carried out by staff, who are enraged by the decision by hospital execs to give themselves the covid vaccine and administrators who are AT HOME before giving it to nurses and physicians who are a contact with patients pic.twitter.com/zq3KBjKCj8
"The idea of vaccinating the attending physicians at Stanford before the residents," Vian said. "Both did fit the definition of a healthcare worker, but one of the rules of prioritization is to look at who has more direct interaction with the patients."
Vian said that if those who are wealthy or influential violate the rules, there should be consequences so that vaccines are distributed fairly.
Vian's statements follow a widely publicized protest this week by Stanford residents after they were overlooked in the vaccine distribution process. The university has since apologized.
