Looking at the link between social class and ethics, a 2012 study by University of California, Berkeley psychologists and sociologists found that upper-class individuals were more likely to indulge in “unethical behaviour” than their lower-class individuals. Attributing this heightened probability to a “more favourable attitude toward greed”, the researchers argue that this manifests itself in the form of driving-related offences, stealing high-value goods, cheating to “increase their chances of winning a prize”, and endorsing “unethical behaviour at work”.
This greed has been apparent during the ongoing pandemic, during which the wealthy and powerful have abused or at the very least attempted to abuse their disproportionate influence to skip the vaccine queue. On a macro level, it has been well documented that this has led to rich, powerful, and more often than not Western countries hoarding vaccines at the expense of poorer, developing countries. However, this unethical behaviour has also manifested itself at a micro and individual level wherein, across the globe, the rich have made repeated efforts to skip the line rather than wait their turn, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, age, or sex.
In Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Spain, Germany, Poland, Malaysia, Indonesia, Uganda, and Lebanon, government and military officials have been forced into resignation after it emerged that they were leading secret inoculation campaigns, with many of them securing shots for their families and friends. In several of these cases, the vaccines were administered before frontline and medical workers or the elderly had received their shots. That these scandals have implicated officials at all levels of the government and the military—including but not limited to presidents, cabinet ministers, senators, small-town mayors, city officials, and army generals—indicates that this self-serving mindset is not anecdotal but in fact systemic among those in the upper echelons of power.
This trend has also been observed among high-ranking medical officials who aren’t considered frontline staff. For instance, in Germany, the head of a trust that manages three hospitals in the country’s northwest was forced to apologise after he had received two doses of the vaccine well before the doctors and nurses at the three facilities. A similar episode was reported with a Red Cross manager in Hamburg. Likewise, in December, the Stanford University Medical Center Hospital in California published a vaccine schedule that placed senior doctors and staff who don’t provide “direct care and service to patients” ahead of frontline medical staff. Although ensuing protests eventually caused a rethink of the rollout plan, the initial strategy gave a clear indication that powerful individuals were willing to wield their influence to jump the vaccine queue.
Aside from government and military officials and managerial-level workers in the healthcare industry, wealthy private citizens have also jumped the vaccine queue. In northern Canada, a casino executive and his actor wife broke quarantine and flew a chartered plane to a remote Indigenous community—for whom vaccines are reserved due to their disproportionate vulnerability to the virus—and then pretended to be local motel workers in order to be inoculated. Similarly, in Poland, some celebrities received their shots as early as December, at the same time as frontline healthcare workers. Queue jumping has also been observed among wealthy businesspeople, lawyers, veterinarians, fashion bloggers, and others in Brazil and the United States (US), where the rich have used their connections to jump the line.
The kind of mental gymnastics the wealthy perform to convince themselves of, and justify, the morality of their decisions was laid bare in an interview the Associated Press conducted with Brazilian marketing executive Eduardo Menga, who said, “When I go to a restaurant and I pay for my own food, I’m not taking anyone else’s food.” This comes amid reports of an association of private clinics collaborating to secure vaccines for purchase, at a time when only 8% of the population has received the first dose, and 2.3% of the population has received two doses. Considering that Brazil’s foreign minister, Ernesto Araújo, just resigned over vaccine shortages, it is unlikely that Menga and his ilk are not aware that they are taking vaccines away from others—they just don’t care. Moreover, President Jair Bolsonaro’s government has even vowed not to step in, illustrating the complicity of the government in excusing and even promoting this behaviour.
In fact, rather than pushing governments to crack down on queue jumping, these seemingly unending reports of wealthy individuals skipping the line have actually created a market for vaccine tourism, well before countries have inoculated a sufficient portion of their population to ensure a successful public health response. For example, Spanish King Felipe VI’s sisters, Elena and Cristina, travelled to Abu Dhabi to visit their father Juan Carlos I and were inoculated while they were there. Furthermore, travel agencies and private members clubs have even started to offer tour packages that include coronavirus shots, such as Indian travel agency Gem Tours & Travels and self-described “exclusive travel and lifestyle service” Knightsbridge Circle. Florida, too, has already vaccinated 40,000 people who listed their address as “out of state”. Similar instances have been reported in Texas, California, and New York.
All things considered, the coronavirus pandemic has provided an invaluable real-world case to conclusively prove the arguments made in the Berkeley research study. This year of turmoil has exemplified the selfishness and lack of compassion that is associated with wealth, status, and power. The researchers put this down to the fact that having more resources, financial or otherwise, leads to individuals becoming more “self-focused”, wherein they are likely to justify their greed as harmless or morally defensible. Ultimately, while the coronavirus has disproportionately impacted disenfranchised and pooper groups, it has inarguably spared no one. Keeping this in mind, the vaccine has become an invaluable resource to all. Therefore, as we enter the recovery phase, it is no surprise that the same people who were more heavily impacted by the pandemic now find themselves pushed to the back of the queue to get their lives back on track, while their richer counterparts trample over them to accrue even more resources.
Vaccine Queue Jumping Has Once Again Exposed the Insatiable Greed of the Rich and Powerful
Across the globe, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, age, or sex, the rich and powerful have made repeated efforts to skip the line rather than wait their turn.
April 4, 2021
IMAGE SOURCE: MANU FERNANDEZ / AP PHOTOAside from government and military officials and managerial-level workers in the healthcare industry, wealthy private citizens have also jumped the vaccine queue.