Should smokers get the Covid vaccine early?
The question arises because a report in America on Monday revealed that:
New Jersey this week made millions of people eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine, including smokers, a move that prompted gripes about them skipping to the front of the inoculation line.
Other reports suggest that at least half a dozen states may prioritise smokers while one headline declared: 'Smokers' vaccine priority raises eyebrows, but medical experts say it's important'.
I have my own opinion but I'd be interested to hear yours, especially if you're a smoker.
Let's be clear, though. Prioritising smokers won't happen in the UK because research clearly suggests that current smokers may be at less risk of being infected or hospitalised compared to ex-smokers or never smokers.
Whether smokers are at greater risk once hospitalised is a different issue because the vaccine is designed to prevent infection or hospitalisation in the first place.
Nevertheless, if you were offered an 'early' vaccine simply because you are a smoker would you accept it or wait to be given the jab with the rest of your age group?
The curious thing is, while no-one in Britain is calling for smokers to be prioritised – or bumped up the queue – it would surely suit the tobacco control narrative that smokers are (a) at greater risk from Covid and (b) addicts who need our help.
Offering smokers an early vaccine, on condition they pledge to quit by signing up to a 'stop smoking' service, might be just the sort of 'help' they need.
Or perhaps the tobacco control lobby accepts, deep down, the Forest argument that smoking is more of a choice than an addiction and if it's a choice it would be morally wrong for smokers to jump the queue.
Anyway, I think it's an interesting question – one for Radio 4's Moral Maze perhaps – but the response on our Facebook page was disappointing so perhaps it's just me.
If you have any thoughts I'd love to hear them.
Update: Pennsylvania is now allowing smokers to receive COVID-19 vaccine first alongside nurses and doctors because it's a 'high-risk medical condition' (Daily Mail)