As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout ramps up across the U.S., many states are deciding how to prioritize who gets the shots. And even though most state health officials are putting the elderly ahead of younger recipients, I believe that I, a healthy 25-year-old woman, am entitled to the vaccine before your mom, an 80-year-old immunocompromised senior.

I’ll Get More Use Out of Being Vaccinated

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, your mom’s years were already limited. Because I’m 55 years younger than her, there’d be a higher rate of return if I were to get vaccinated first. After all, why waste what few injections we have on those who only have a few birthdays left anyway?

I’ve Earned It

Working from home for a marketing startup over that last year, I’ve barely had to leave my apartment. Your mom, on the other hand, has been making pharmacy runs and going to multiple different doctors every week. Since I’m the one who’s been following our governor’s orders to shelter in place, am I not more deserving of the vaccine?

I’ll Do More to Boost the Economy

Once I’m able to get back to bars and restaurants, there’s no doubt I’ll fuel the economy faster than your mom ever could. Ask any member of my pod and they’ll tell you that my pre-quarantine post-brunch spending sprees could raise the GDP of Arkansas.

Warm Weather Is Coming

Nobody appreciates the thaw of spring and long summer days like a woman in her mid-20s gearing up for music festivals and boozy park picnics. Your octogenarian mother, however, will continue to wrap herself up in quilted blankets and a good book regardless of the rising temperatures outside. To keep everyone else outside as safe as possible, young people like me are better off being vaccinated.

I Mentally and Emotionally Can’t Do Another Zoom Birthday Party

 Part of the mental exhaustion we’re all facing is due to Zoom fatigue. Your mom already has the ultimate excuse to skip out on digital celebrations: She doesn’t even know what the internet is. But if I, on the other hand, have to sit through one more godforsaken virtual baby shower or murder mystery party, I’m going to lose my mind.



Devon Antonetti is a New York City-based copywriter and editor. Her hobbies include stressing out and wondering what’s causing her back pain. If her landlord asks, she doesn’t have a cat.