Tsunami, 1. Vaccine Elitism.

I'm changing my header, again. The New Year is now no longer so new, yet the third wave of the pandemic continues strong. When I am able to give my header the name "calm waters", I'll rejoice.

Do you have an extra 25,000 pounds lying about? Are you over 65? Are you anxious for travel? You can apply for membership to the KnightsBridge Circle, a members-only travel club that will cater to your every wealthy need. This January, they presented a travel package to Dubai of a month's stay at a seven-star hotel, private jet to and fro, an appointment at a private clinic, and two shots of the complete vaccination with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. All this, for 40,000 pounds. Cheap.

In the meantime, if you only have 25 euros until your next paycheck, however anxious you are for travel, or whatever underlying health problems you might have, you may wait your turn until the regional health department calls you up for your doses. At this rate, probably around September. If not, you can check your family tree to see if a bribe-happy fifth cousin can get you in line before anyone else. If you're unlucky even in that, then, too bad.

This is so infuriating. Always, it's the little people that make life possible for everyone else, that are the ones left behind in so many aspects. We haven't progressed in a thousand years of history. We've only improved quality of life for the lower classes in certain ways, but they still remain slaves of their employers and pariahs of "nice" society. The elite are the ones that get all the perks, including health perks. 

The middle class that grew up in the twentieth century has been squeezed by the last economic crisis, and the intention is that it receive a death knell with the pandemic. After this is over, society will be even more divided between the rich and the poor. And the rich will continue to blame the reason for poverty on those unlucky ones who have come to these shores to find a more decent life, thereby taking the spotlight away from their glitzy selves. 

Am I communist? No, but I am becoming more radical in my thinking as I grow older. Socialism, as it was envisioned and attempted in the second half of the twentieth century in western Europe, seems the most equitable type of society. It still had flaws, but it at least guaranteed that those that had less, had equal access to all different types of services, as well as a living wage and decent housing. The neo-liberal thinking that has sprung up since has tried to turn things around and send us back to the robber baron age. 

It is indecent in this day and age that a fat bank account can get you a vaccine before anyone else. Whoever avails themselves of that offer should be ostracized.

Life continues.