It is 11:30 PM, and having just finished watching the Red Sox put the Yankees in their place to force a Game 7 of the ALCS, I relax on my bed to watch the delayed beginning of my local news. As the portion of the program dealing with health comes to a close, the male anchor turns to the camera and utters two sentences about the shortage of the flu vaccine and how it is affecting politicians. Namely, that it isn't.
Apparently, politicians are at a higher risk for contracting the flu because, and I quote, "they visit nursing homes and shake hands."
The funny thing is, I do those things too, along with a myriad of other activities that should shoot me up to the top of the risk list. For starters, I have to ride the subway every day, which, convenient as it is, does not live up to the standards of sanitation that I feel comfortable with. Aside from this, I attend college, which, convenient as it is, does not live up to the standards of sanitation that I feel comfortable with. Interestingly enough, neither one of these facts is enough to override the medical community's view that I am a healthy 19 year old male with plenty to look forward to.
Now, I don't want anyone to take this to mean that I feel particularly shunned by the fact that I cannot get a flu vaccine. In fact, even if the flu vaccine was in such abundance that it squirted out of Old Faithful for random passersby to drink, I would not feel compelled to get myself injected. My problem is not even, I don't think, with the political aspect of this issue.
I am just disturbed by the fact that, with the amount of money spent by national organizations to convince the public that their desicions are rational, there wasn't any way to come up with a better excuse for getting politicians flu vaccines than they shake hands and visit old people. That's all.