News Racism

“Experts” Say Vulnerable Elderly Shouldn’t Have Vaccine Priority Because They Are Mostly White

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"Society is structured in a way that enables [white people] to live longer," Schmidt told the publication.
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The New York Times published an article this month citing “experts” who claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were right to suggest millions of essential workers should receive a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the most vulnerable elderly because “older populations are whiter.”

Although deaths from the virus are overwhelmingly concentrated among the elderly, 65-years and older, the CDC’s report says the ethical reason behind the guidance is to “mitigate health inequities.”

Harald Schmidt, an “expert” in ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Times the CDC’s judgment was reasonable because “older populations are whiter.”

“Society is structured in a way that enables [white people] to live longer,” Schmidt told the publication.

“Instead of giving additional health benefits to those who already had more of them, we can start to level the playing field a bit.”

The Times went on to quote Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, who suggested teachers should not be included in the category of ‘non-healthcare essential workers’ because teachers are usually white.

“Teachers have middle-class salaries, are very often white, and they have college degrees,” Lipsitch said.

According to the Times, in the past, those tasked with deciding who takes priority relied on “scientific evidence.” Today, however, committees are “weighing social justice concerns as well.”

In a recent segment on Fox News, Tucker Carlson blasted the Times’ piece for endorsing eugenics against white people and advocating a system that “intentionally causes people’s deaths because they’re the wrong color.”

David Harsanyi, senior writer for National Review notes that the CDC data shows that if the elderly were prioritized rather than essential workers then most American lives would be saved.

Similarly, Robby Soave, Senior Editor at Reason, called it a prime example of progressive thinking on racial justice leading otherwise intelligent people to take a position that actually hurts racial minorities.

“While it’s true that the 65-and-up demographic is somewhat whiter than the general population, there are still millions of elderly people of color, and they have by far the greatest risk of dying from COVID-19–the age skew of the disease’s victims is extreme,” Soave said.

Once again, if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that yesterday’s conspiracy theories are today’s news headlines.


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