Biglaw

Folks, Let's Not Shame People For Getting Vaccines

But, seriously, if you've got the vaccine, show a little decorum.

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As everyone sits around waiting for vaccines to end their COVID nightmare, there’s a strong impulse to heap unending scorn on people getting vaccinated before you. Especially if those people go around publicly crowing about it. Seriously, old NFL celebration penalty rules apply: collect your vaccine and walk stoically back to the sidelines like a professional.

So if people post happy movies of their “[Biglaw firm] Vaccine Party!!” on their wall, we can embrace how unbelievably tacky that is and definitely ask why the hell they feel the need to name the firm as if it’s a cult that defines their very humanity, but we can’t really shame them for getting the vaccine itself.

I’ve gotten my first dose. As a dashing, vibrant, young writer who can work remotely indefinitely, that may not seem fair. But I have a genetic heart condition whose top identified symptom is “instant death,” so I get to be on the list. Lucky me! The point is that we don’t know what conditions the folks posting this might have and it’s a bit ableist to presume they don’t have something that makes them a priority.

Now, I certainly do wonder why the firm would find its name in a vaccine celebration. I like my employers but would never post “Above the Law Vaccine Party!!” anywhere. I mean, I guess I just did write those words, but you get my point. It kind of reads as if a major law firm used its connections to jump the line in a state whose vaccine rollout is infamously slipshod, in this case, a state that doesn’t prioritize K-12 teachers despite requiring in-person instruction for months. But the firm doesn’t control the governor’s office (well, actually given the governor involved and the firm involved, they might…) and if they can get people vaccinated at all it’s better than wasting vaccines like the state’s doing every day.

I understand the prioritization system but at the end of the day, everyone needs to go get their vaccine. “Herd immunity” got a bad rap because Donald Trump tried to use it as scientific cover for “doing absolutely nothing,” but it’s a real thing and it’s how vaccination actually works. Your individual vaccine may not stop the virus but everyone’s vaccines together cuts off its access to the hosts it needs to survive. I’d much rather see “[Biglaw firm] Vaccine Party!!” than the TikTok where an associate breaks down how Bill Gates invented COVID so he can microchip everyone. If I have to suffer through a gauche celebration video to know that people are at least being responsible, I’ll take it.

So as much as we’d all like to dunk on the classless display of a vaccine celebration party that may or may not be thanking the firm for getting you ahead of the line, we just can’t do it. This is a bad display, but we’ll just roll our eyes and thank you for taking the disease seriously right now when so many people aren’t.

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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