London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

COVID privilege? Younger Americans get vaccinated first, while leaders flout their own restrictions

COVID privilege? Younger Americans get vaccinated first, while leaders flout their own restrictions

As the COVID-19 pandemic trails into 2021, the unseemly specter of what might be termed "COVID privilege" is becoming increasingly apparent, as younger, less-vulnerable Americans are receiving the lion's share of coronavirus vaccines and elected officials and public employees continue to ignore the COVID-19 restrictions they themselves have set or demanded.

Nominal public servants, meanwhile — exemplified by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dancing in an empty Times Square as well as a schoolteacher calling for continued school shutdowns while vacationing in the Caribbean — suggest that many community and civil leaders may consider COVID safety measures to be a hierarchical rather than a civilizational concern.

State-level vaccine data show that young-to-middle-aged Americans are in many cases receiving a high percentage of vaccines administered by states, levels significantly outpacing their relative vulnerability to the respiratory disease.

In Pennsylvania, for instance, the state's COVID vaccination dashboard shows that adults 64 years old and younger had as of Saturday received around 106,000 of the state's 128,800 vaccine injections — about 82% of total injections — with most of the remaining 18% going toward older individuals.

That's in spite of the fact that Americans over 65 have constituted the vast majority of deaths classified as being caused by COVID-19: Provisional CDC data indicate that, as of Dec. 26, Americans older than 65 constitute about 80% of all deaths from COVID-19.

Similar vaccination rates in favor of the young can be observed in Michigan, where according to the state, only 16% of vaccinations have gone to residents older than 60. In Ohio, only 26% of vaccines have gone to individuals in that age group. In Virginia, the number is 18%, as is also the case in Oregon.

Those lopsided numbers in favor of younger and healthier populations may be indicative of campaigns undertaken by public health officials to vaccinate "frontline" healthcare workers en masse due to elevated risks of contracting the virus in healthcare settings.

Yet the overwhelmingly higher likelihood of an elderly patient's dying from COVID-19 still raises uncomfortable questions as to why so few of them are receiving it in the initial rollout of the vaccines, and why so many less vulnerable populations are receiving the majority of the still scarce injections.

'Public servants' flout their own COVID rules, standards


As younger Americans receive the lion's share of vaccines so far, elected officials and public employees are flouting COVID-19 mitigation rules and protocols, taking vacations and enjoying public festivities even as they have advocated, and ordered, the closure and shutdown of many public amenities.

In New York City on New Year's Eve, Mayor Bill de Blasio publicly enjoyed a dance with his wife in Time's Square after ordering New Yorkers to avoid the popular New Year's destination. "Don't go down there," de Blasio urged just hours before twirling with his wife on a stage amid live music and oversized novelty champaign bottles.

A Chicago Teachers Union leader, meanwhile, was this week caught vacationing in the Caribbean after advocating the continued closure of public schools in favor of remote instruction. She later defended the decision to travel by stating that she took several COVID tests beforehand and wore two masks over her face while en route.

Such apparent hypocrisy has been observed many times now over the course of the pandemic. Prior to Thanksgiving, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock urged city residents to remain home during Thanksgiving; he was subsequently found to have traveled to Mississippi with his family for the holiday.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom received significant blowback earlier this year for having feasted at the Michelin-starred French Laundry restaurant, unmasked and with a large group, even as he has imposed significant indoor dining restrictions and masking orders on the state of California since the start of the pandemic.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed also attended a dinner at that restaurant, just a few days before her city shut down indoor dining over concerns that COVID might spread in restaurants.

Over the summer, meanwhile, Anthony Fauci — the infectious disease expert who has repeatedly called for continued bans on large gatherings as well as strict public mask mandates— was photographed attending a Washington Nationals baseball game in a nearly empty stadium, at one point failing to socially distance while leaving his mask pulled down.

And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in November hastily cancelled Thanksgiving plans with his family after strong public backlash to the news that his elderly mother and two of his daughters would be joining him for the holiday.

Cuomo had earlier warned New York residents to celebrate the feast virtually before revealing that his 89-year-old mother would celebrate the meal with him. Following the backlash, a Cuomo spokesman said the governor would have to work through the holiday and would not be seeing his family.

Coronavirus task force member Dr. Deborah Birx, meanwhile, appeared to flout her own guidance discouraging Thanksgiving weekend travel with members of different households. Birx endured a public backlash she described as so "overwhelming" that it prompted her to retire.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×