Dishonest and justified – so many describe people jumping over the line and getting the vaccine before they qualify.
Many know at least one person who exaggerated their health status or who had their boss classify them as front-line workers to win over – experts call the hyper-competitive behavior the “vaccine hunger games.”
Karla Salazar, childcare workers in San Francisco, describes the effort some people will go to to get the COVID-19 vaccine as “ crazy, ” including lying about being an essential worker.
“They say, ‘oh, I work as a nurse’ and they take friends’ badges,” she said.
On Monday, millions of Californians with serious underlying health conditions and disabilities were eligible for the vaccine.
San Francisco took it one step further, including homeless people, inmates and others in a high-risk community environment.
But as the vaccine becomes more accessible to more people, so does the potential for more line jumping and vaccine cheating.
“It’s a competition, and it shouldn’t be,” said UCSF epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford. “I think people should have bigger social goals in mind, which is to stop the transfer.”
He says it will be harder to fight the pandemic if he makes an appointment away from someone who lives in a high-transmission area.
“We don’t want the vaccine hunger games,” Rutherford said. “This makes sense, and please wait your turn.”
Some agree.
“That’s just not fair,” said Soon Tani Beccaria Mochizuki of San Francisco. “People who really need the vaccine deserve it first.”
Others say vaccinating someone will help us get immunity.
“You know what? The more people get vaccinated, that’s the most important thing,” said Shawn Gupta of San Francisco. “Better for all of us, so let’s just do it.”
The City of San Francisco requires everyone to check a box and sign their name swearing they are eligible for the vaccine, but some say it’s too easy to cheat the system by relying purely on people’s honesty.
Below is more information from the COVID Command Center in San Francisco
We have notified all vaccination providers in San Francisco of the following guidelines regarding eligibility verification:
- Use reasonable processes to verify that individuals applying for vaccination meet the eligibility criteria, and avoid overly cumbersome documentation requirements that create vaccination barriers.
- Employees in different job sectors differ in the available documentation that could verify their job status. Providers may employ methods that include, but are not limited to, checking work identification badges, pay slips or letters from employers, recognizing that in some circumstances it may be both more feasible and fair to rely instead on obtaining the the vaccine-signed statement of their labor force.
- Ultimately, it is up to the vaccinating entity to decide on the appropriate process to verify suitability, but vaccination sites serving populations and communities disproportionately affected by COVID19 must ensure that access to vaccines is low-threshold.
- This notice will be updated as additional eligibility verification guidelines are published by CDPH.