"Why Let Them Go to Waste?":America's Most Affluent Class Is Scheming Its Way Into a 3rd COVID Shot

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/08/americas-most-affluent-class-is-scheming-its-way-into-a-third-covid-shot

Coronavirus
“Why Let Them Go to Waste?”: America’s Most Affluent Class Is Scheming Its Way Into a Third COVID Shot
As the delta variant sideswipes America, those who jumped the line the first time are angling for an illicit booster, in some cases traveling to different counties or states and devising fake names. “Even if you’re sneaking to get a third shot,” says one person planning on it, “it’s not like you’re taking it from someone else.”
By Nick Bilton
August 11, 2021

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Now that more than 166 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, and vaccines are so widely available that anyone in New York City can make an at-home appointment and choose their preferred manufacturer, you’d think the fakery would have ended too. But the delta variant of COVID, a highly contagious mutation of the virus that has led to some breakthrough infections, has changed that. While booster shots aren’t being officially distributed in the United States (yet), many impatient and affluent people are again angling to get a third shot by any means possible.

Once again, the strategies to do so run the gamut. I’ve heard of people in Los Angeles decamping to pharmacies in Orange County for a third shot, and others using different names to pretend they haven’t been vaccinated at all. Others are traveling beyond their counties, and even their states. I’ve heard about emergency room doctors having their cohorts give them third shots.

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On the flip side of people trying to sneak a third vaccine are those adamantly against getting one in the first place. In California, the land of gluten-free vegans, intricate outdoor aerobics classes, and baby-food diets (yes, that’s a thing), being an anti-vaxxer wasn’t thought of as all that bad prior to the pandemic. Now, however, those in the anti-vax community have become lepers. One woman with children in Los Angeles, who has not gotten vaccinated and has no plans to do so, said her friendship circles have essentially crumbled over the past few months, and that she’s left spending time with other anti-vaxxers. She lambasted people who are “scared” of anti-vaxxers and said she’s fine being “Zoom friends” with people until they learn it’s the vaccine that’s killing people, not the actual virus. (She is, obviously, incorrect.)

Her position is only becoming less tenable. Over the past several weeks, the Biden administration has mandated that federal workers must attest they’ve been vaccinated or submit to regular testing, mask requirements, and social distancing. Some of the largest employers in the country, including Walmart, Disney, and Tyson Foods, are requiring similar rules for their employees, and restaurants in New York City will require proof of vaccination in order to dine indoors. One invite I recently received for a social event in Los Angeles noted at the bottom, in parentheses: “If you’re not vaccinated—we completely understand, but you should seriously fuck off.”

As COVID’s grip on the country revives arguably due entirely to people who refuse to get their shots, it seems that the vitriol is growing stronger. “I have absolutely no patience for anti-vaxxers,” one Hollywood executive told me. “If they weren’t so fucking stupid and actually got the shot that is proven to save lives, this pandemic would be over in America. We’d have reached herd immunity, the economy would be back to normal, and people wouldn’t be dying in hospitals. Instead, we have a bunch of fucking morons who think Bill Gates is trying to kill them.”