Beatles – "I'll Get You" (1963)

But I’ll get you, I’ll get you in the end

Yes I will, I’ll get you in the end

Oh yeah, oh yeah

If you still don’t believe me when I say that Lennon and McCartney didn’t put a lot of effort into the lyrics of their early songs, take a look at the chorus to “I’ll Get You,” which is quoted above.

Case closed.

*     *     *     *     *

Like most states, my home state of Maryland invited health care workers, residents and staff of nursing homes, and first responders like police officers and firefighters to step to the front of the line when it came to covid vaccinations.

I have absolutely no problem with those groups being included in priority group 1A, and I’m guessing you don’t either.

The next priority group (which Maryland labelled group 1B) includes adults over the age of 75 – certainly justified given that older folks have a MUCH higher chance of dying if they contract covid – and those in assisted living facilities (which are about as dangerous as nursing homes).  Like the people in group 1A, I’m absolutely fine with waiting until those highly vulnerable 1B groups have a chance to be vaccinated.

But then things got political.

*     *     *     *     *

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued guidance stating that schools can reopen safely before all teachers are inoculated – even if the local covid-19 infection rate is relatively high. 

“There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated,” said the doctor who was chosen by President Biden to be CDC director.  “Vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools.”

But according to the New York Times, the CDC’s guidance “has not changed the minds of powerful teachers’ unions opposed to returning students to classrooms” before not only classroom teachers but also other school staff members are vaccinated. 

Teachers’ unions often have tremendous influence in state elections.  And parents are DESPERATE to get their kids out of the house and back in school.  So many state governments – including Maryland – are allowing teachers to jump the queue when it comes to vaccinations.  

*     *     *     *     *

By the way, there’s another problem with the decision by Maryland and other states to give those in the education sector higher vaccination priority: not everyone who qualifies for that priority is a classroom teacher.

For example, I have a family member who works for a Maryland community college.  However, she’s not a classroom teacher, and can do her work from home – without exposing herself to covid.  But she gets priority status when it comes to covid vaccinations because she works for an educational institution.

In fact, she has priority even over an old guy like me when it comes to getting a shot, even though she is at no greater risk of becoming infected than I am . . . and even though I face a MUCH greater risk of hospitalization or death if I do catch the disease.

*     *     *     *     *

Reason magazine has pointed out how shortsighted it is to move teachers ahead of seniors for political reasons:

Vaccine schemes that shirk the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and fail to recognize that old people are at the highest risk of dying from covid-19, by an order of magnitude, are irresponsible and will result in deaths that could have been prevented. . . .

It’s very hard to look at the currently available data and make the case that either (a) schools are a significant vector for covid-19 transmission from students to teachers or (b) those vaccine doses being allocated to the entire pool of teachers over elderly people will do the most good, if the aim is to reduce deaths.

(You would think everyone would agree that preventing deaths should be the #1 priority when it comes to a vaccination strategy.  But some people see things differently.)

Reason went on to note that there’s no guarantee that vaccinating teachers sooner rather than later will actually result in earlier school reopening:

Vaccinating teachers might not even be the silver bullet that allows kids to return to school in a timely manner . . . . In Fairfax, Virginia, for example, the teachers union president said she opposes schools returning to full-time in-person instruction even after teachers are vaccinated.  She argued the district should wait until children are fully vaccinated – something not likely to happen until 2022 – rendering the need for teachers to receive vaccines ahead of many senior citizens absolutely pointless.

A San Francisco Chronicle headline from earlier this month puts it bluntly: “Moving California teachers to the front of the vaccine line might not be enough to reopen schools.”

Giving teachers higher priority in order to get schools open is the wrong strategy, but it’s not a completely unreasonable policy.  But giving teachers higher priority when doing so doesn’t ensure that schools will reopen sooner rather than is indefensible.

*     *     *     *     *

Reason calls on the states to “pursue a more sane vaccination approach, one that ensures the elderly people most at risk of dying receive their vaccine doses as soon as humanly possible.”

And they’re not the only ones who are saying that.  Experts around the world generally agree that the best way to minimize covid deaths is to give priority to seniors – not teachers.

Here’s an excerpt from a Washington Post opinion piece by a Johns Hopkins bioethicist and a Yale professor of medicine and public health:

THE BEST VACCINATION STRATEGY IS SIMPLE: 

FOCUS ON AMERICANS 65 AND OLDER

Now that covid-19 vaccines are increasingly becoming available to people beyond health-care workers and those in long-term care, the question turns to who should be immunized next.  For many people, the answer is essential workers.  But while many workers face an elevated risk and should receive a vaccine soon, we believe the most ethically justified path forward is to focus on individuals 65 and older.

The primary reason to prioritize people in this age group is simple: They account for more than 80 percent of covid-19 deaths, even though they are only about 16 percent of the population.  

In other words, moving teachers and other younger people ahead of seniors will result in additional deaths.  That’s the very real cost of making vaccination decisions based on political considerations rather than the facts.

*     *     *     *     *

The influence of politics on vaccination priorities in Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest county – where I’ve lived for decades – was even worse than I realized.

On January 28, the Washington Examiner broke the story that the county was prioritizing the vaccination of public-school teachers (none of has been engaged in classroom teaching since early last year) over private-school teachers (many of whom returned to the classroom months ago):

In one large Washington, D.C., suburban county, public school teachers, none of whom are in classrooms, are getting vaccinated today, while their private school counterparts, many of whom are teaching in person, have to wait. . . .

[Montgomery] County Executive Marc Elrich implied that private school teachers would be at the back of the educators’ line with a Wednesday press release: “County Executive Marc Elrich today announced that Johns Hopkins Medicine will begin vaccinating eligible county residents and Montgomery County Public School employees this week.” The release said nothing about vaccinating the nonpublic school teachers or staff, although these educators are already in classrooms.

On Thursday morning, MCPS faculty were already getting vaccinated and tweeting about it.

Meanwhile, teachers and administrators at nonpublic schools in the county reported that they had no way to make an appointment to get vaccinated. . . .

Montgomery County’s plan, it appears, amounts to this: teachers who are working from home, and whose union has resisted calls to return to the classroom any time soon, get vaccinated; teachers who are in the classroom have to wait in line.

 Looking on the bright side, MCPS 
school bus fuel bills are much lower

The Washington Post chimed in a few days later:

Cecilia Rajnic is eager to get vaccinated.  But after the second-grade teacher heard about an immunization effort that involved thousands of slots for educators in suburban Maryland, she soon learned she was not eligible.

She teaches at a Catholic school.

“How is it even possible?” she recalled thinking.  “I’m a teacher, too, and I’m teaching in person already, so why wouldn’t I have at least the same access?”

It is a question that has flared over the past week in Montgomery County as the first large group of educators in Maryland’s most populous jurisdiction is being vaccinated.  The effort was aimed at public-school employees, who might return to campuses in March.

It left out employees at private schools and child-care centers, many of whom have worked in school buildings since September or earlier.

The Maryland Department of Health promptly pointed out that Montgomery County’s discriminatory vaccination policy violated state guidelines:

“It is the health policy of the State of Maryland that nonpublic schools may not be excluded from any COVID-19 vaccine provider who is administering COVID-19 vaccine to educators,” acting Secretary of Health Dennis Schrader wrote in a letter today to all county health officers and “all COVID-19 Vaccine Providers.”

The county denied any intent to discriminate against private-school teachers, and blamed the apparent favoritism on “logistical and operational” issues.

*     *     *     *     *

I feel bad criticizing MCPS teachers too harshly – the vaccine shortage has created a difficult situation, and it’s just human nature for people to want to get to the front of the vaccination line as quickly as possible.

But I don’t feel bad criticizing the elected officials who shamelessly used their political power to ensure that they got vaccinated well before the vast majority of Marylanders did – even though doing so might have resulted in the deaths of high-risk individuals who deserved higher priority for covid shots.

A couple of months ago, the Washington Post interviewed a medical resident who said she “watched with frustration last week as inoculations were administered to scores of government leaders . . . while she and her colleagues were initially left unprotected because their hospital had received fewer than 1,000 doses of the scarce resource.”  

That resident was talking about members of Congress and their staffs – including some very young, healthy members (like 31-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), many of whom said their getting preferential treatment was a good thing because it demonstrated that the vaccine was safe and encouraged more people to get the shot.

AOC receiving the Pfizer vaccine

Many questioned that rationale.  From the Post:

[T]hat doesn’t necessarily mean rank-and-file lawmakers should receive priority, said Scott D. Halpern, a physician and professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine who teaches ethics.

“What’s the evidence that vaccinating government officials promotes public trust in the vaccine? I’m really not aware of any,” Halpern said. 

*     *     *     *     *

One of AOC's most vehement critics was her fellow “Squad” member, Rep. Ilhan Omar.  

From the Independent (UK):

Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar has criticized other lawmakers, a group that includes fellow “Squad” member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for being vaccinated before frontline workers, the elderly, and other high-risk groups.

Ms Omar, who lost her father due to coronavirus complications this summer, tweeted on Sunday: “It’s now clear that we don’t have enough vaccines for everyone and there is a shortage of supply, we have to prioritize those who need it most. That’s why it’s disturbing to see members [of Congress] be first to get the vaccine while most frontline workers, elderly and infirm in our districts, wait.”

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who broadcast her vaccination live on Instagram, said that the vaccine was made available to members of Congress and that they were urged to take it “as a continuity of governance plan” and described it as a “national security measure.”

(I don’t know about you, but I feel much more secure knowing that young, healthy members of Congress have been vaccinated!)

Republican Senator Rand Paul agreed with the very progressive Omar:

I think it’s unconscionable for AOC, who’s 30 years old, to be smiling gleefully and getting the vaccine when you got 85-year-old people in nursing homes who haven't gotten it.

*     *     *     *     *

Rank-and-file Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin was almost giddy after receiving his shot.  

“When I got the shot, I said to myself, ‘I have not felt this good since I voted,’” Raskin told the Maryland Matters website. “It just feels like an act of pure patriotism, and suddenly [Bruce] Springsteen’s song ‘Badlands’ kept going through my mind with the line ‘It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive.’”

An “act of pure patriotism”?  How so exactly?  

“It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive”?  It certainly isn’t – unless someone else is dead as a result.

Many Maryland state legislators followed Raskin’s example and happily jumped the queue to get their shots ahead of seniors and essential workers who don’t have the luxury of being able to do their business virtually.  

From Maryland Matters:

Several officials acknowledged, in interviews this week, that some members of the public may find it objectionable that [state] legislators are able to get vaccinated when the state’s supply of doses is low.

“It was something I thought a lot about,” [Maryland Senate President Bill] Ferguson said. “My parents have not been able to get a vaccine — and they’ve asked where they can go, and they’re frustrated.”

A self-described healthy 37-year-old male, Ferguson said he “really struggled on should I move forward with this.”

“At the end of the day, I went back to what we’ve been saying from the beginning, [which] is we have to follow the guidance of health experts,” he said.

Of course, that’s pure, unadulterated bullsh*t – health experts are NOT saying that healthy 37-year-old politicians should be vaccinated ahead of much more vulnerable seniors.

Maryland State Senator Arthur Ellis
was happy to jump the queue

One MoCo state senator (who obviously has very little respect for the intelligence of her constituents) followed the lead of the members of Congress who said their getting vaccinated ahead of more deserving individuals was actually a good thing because it demonstrated that the vaccine was safe and encouraged people to get the shot:

Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery) got vaccinated on Friday.

“I expect to be a role model,” she said. “I hope to be able to show anyone who is nervous about getting the vaccine that I have confidence in our health care workers and in our scientists.”

(By the way, I e-mailed Senator Kagan and several other MoCo legislators to ask why they believed they deserved priority over seniors, who are at much greater risk of dying or hospitalization if infected.  So far, I’ve received no replies to my queries.)

*     *     *     *     *

I’m not a fan of my county executive, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due.  It’s only fair that I note that he declined to get his shot early – even though he’s 71 years old, which means he’s at much higher risk of hospitalization or death than people like Raskin, Ferguson, and Kagan:

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said Friday he would not get the vaccine until “all” frontline health care workers and people 75 and over have had theirs.

“I don’t do anything to put myself at risk.  I don’t need the vaccine now and there are people who are much more important to Montgomery County than me.”

Good for him.

*     *     *     *     *

Today 2 or 3 lines is featuring yet another early Lennon-McCartney song that I don’t remember ever hearing before starting to work on this year’s 28 POSTS IN 28 DAYS!

“I’ll Get You” was recorded on July 1, 1963 and released as the B-side of “She Loves You” in both the UK and the U.S.  (“She Loves You” set sales record in the UK, but was largely ignored in the U.S. until the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show several months later.)

As I noted at the beginning of this post – that was a very long time ago, wasn’t it? – Lennon and McCartney apparently didn’t put that much time and effort into the lyrics of their earliest songs, including this one.

Matt Blick of Beatles Songwriting Academy – who reveres Lennon and McCartney as songwriters – called “I’ll Get You” a “lyrical crime against humanity.”

He’s 100% correct.  But what strikes me most about this song is the music, which strikes me as very un-Beatles-ish.  (I’m not sure who it sounds like, but it’s not the Beatles.)

Paul loved the song, but John was not a fan.  “That was Paul and me trying to write a song and it didn’t work out,” he once told an interviewer.

I second that emotion.

Click here to listen to “I’ll Get You.”

Click on the link below to buy the record from Amazon: