Guilt, envy, distrust: Vaccine rollout breeds mixed emotions

Guilt, envy, distrust: Vaccine rollout breeds mixed emotions

NEW YORK (AP) “” Before posting a selfie with her COVID-19 vaccination card on Twitter, Aditi Juneja debated whether to include an explanation for why she was eligible for a shot.

"The first draft of the tweet had an explanation,“ says Juneja, a 30-year-old lawyer in New York City.

After some thought, she decided to leave out out that her body mass index is considered obese, putting her at higher risk of serious illness if infected. A friend who disclosed the same reason on social media was greeted with hateful comments, and Juneja wanted to avoid that.

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the US is offering hope that the pandemic that has upended life around the world will finally draw to an end. But as distribution widens in the US, varying eligibility rules and unequal access to the coveted doses are also breeding guilt, envy and judgement among those who've had their doses “” particularly the seemingly young and healthy “” and the millions still anxiously awaiting their turn.

Adding to the second-guessing about who should be getting shots is the scattershot feel of the rollout, and the sense that some might be gaming the system. Faced with a patchwork of confusing scheduling