It's the most vulnerable, stupid

Last update: Friday 8/26/22 

Most older readers -- especially those of you who have been around long enough to be called "elderly" (like the editor of this blog) -- will recognize the title of this blog note as a COVIDized version of the slogan coined by strategist James Carville for Bill Clinton's winning 1992 campaign. It popped into the editor's head when he read the following headline: "Biden Administration Plans for New Booster Campaign Soon After Labor Day", Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland, NY Times, 8/23/22 

Most older readers will also recall that Carville came up with the slogan "It's the economy, stupid" because he knew that his beloved fellow Democrats, most notably the candidate himself, had a congenital inability to focus on a few winning campaign issues. Given access to a microphone for five minutes, Democrats would spontaneously emit at least 100 great things that they would try to accomplish if they won the election, which was about 95 more issues than the voting public could be mobilized to support.

The elderly, age 65+, have accounted for about 75 percent of COVID deaths. The "near elderly", age 50 to 64, have accounted for another 15 percent. That's 90 percent. The younger vulnerables -- e.g., immunocompromised, diabetic, obese -- add another 5 percent. That's about 95 percent of COVID deaths, so that's who should be given highest priority for booster shots. 

On the other hand, the new boosters are supposed to greatly reduce the transmissibility of the dominant Omicron variants. This will not only reduce the likelihood that infected elderly persons will pass the virus on to other elderly persons. If given to younger caregivers, the new boosters will greatly reduce the likelihood that these family, friends, and professional caregivers will pass their infections onto the elderly persons with whom they have frequent face-to-face contact. So these caregivers should also be given highest priority for the new boosters. 

Therefore, applying the wisdom of James Carville's winning strategy for the 1992 presidential campaign, the winning strategy for the upcoming booster campaign is straight forward ==> President Biden's all-too-Democratic-party prior promise to deliver the new boosters to everybody under 50 notwithstanding, non-caregivers under 50 should NOT receive the new booster shots until at least 70 percent of the vulnerables and their caregivers receive their shots because

It's the most vulnerable, stupid.

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