[AQXt]

> I can understand where the author is coming from, but this is the cruel reality of the world.

This article was written in 2015, when this kind of dilemma (who would you save) was purely theoretical.

Fast-forward to 2020/2021, and it became real: we had to decide how to allocate scarce, life-saving resources -- COVID-19 vaccines -- and we decided to distribute them to the elder and most vulnerable first.

I hope this decision -- replicated in most countries around the world -- will put an end to this attempt to calculate the value of human lives.

[bserge]

Yeah, sounds encouraging until you realize it was more likely because the elderly have the money and vote the "right way", plus 80%+ of the young adults had mild to no symptoms.

The whole "lockdowns for everybody or grandpa might kick it" became a farce 6 months in, too. Why not just isolate the elderly and vulnerable then?

And there actually were unofficial DNR orders in the NHS, for example, and likely around the world, with people on Reddit supporting them.

Perhaps I'm overly pessimistic.

[JetSetWilly]

That's a fallacy though. If COVID killed the youngest and most able among us equally or more than the most vulnerable, then vaccine distribution would have been different.

Vaccine distribution was given to those most likely to suffer negative effects. If covid struck entirely randomly there's no reason to prioritise it on the elderly and vulnerable, you'd look at maximising QALYS instead.

[AQXt]

Differently from most countries in the world, Colombia allowed corporations to buy and distribute vaccines to their employees.

The result?

Hunger Games: Food Delivery Company Giving Vaccines Only to Best Gig Workers

As COVID deaths in Colombia reach an all-time high and a third wave of infections has left hospital systems on the verge of collapse, the massive delivery company Rappi said it would offer vaccines to its employees.

The catch: the delivery workers will have to compete against each other to prove they are the hardest workers to win just a handful of jabs.

Juan Sebastián Rozo, Rappi’s director of public affairs, announced this week during a local radio interview that the company will give vaccines to the five percent of its delivery workers who “deliver the most orders, spend the most time logged into the app and because of that are the most exposed.”

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkbqdg/hunger-games-food-del...

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In other words: between a 20-years-old who works full-time and a 40-years-old who works part-time, the Rappi would give the jab to the 20-years-old.

So... don't take compassion for granted.

[jorl17]

Exactly this.