The multi-vax man

It has emerged that there's a man who's been showing up to receive the COVID vaccine on behalf of other people (for which he's being paid), having up to 10 vaccinations in a single day.

Obviously the effects of this haven't been studied, as it's outside the bounds of what would actually be given in a standard vaccination dose.

This does boggle my mind though. What does it say about people willing to pay somebody else to take a vaccine for them, that they believe is harmful? Or is it only harmful to them? What does it say about the anti-vaxxers who say that the vaccine has terrible and risky side effects? I don't think I'll ever understand how these people work.

On a more serious note, it is a difficult problem to solve. On the one hand, it seems it would be a good idea to require photo ID when getting the vaccine. But, as we know, this puts barriers up, and for particular populations (such as Maori and Pasifika) having to produce photo ID can be problematic. Not everybody has a driver's licence and many won't have a passport.

The vast majority of those currently eligible to receive the vaccine (over 12s) have had it, with almost 95% having had their first dose. Those remaining are in populations where hesitancy is rife, or vaccinations are difficult to access, but also the staunch anti-vaxxers, who may well be subject to vaccine mandates, requiring them to be vaccinated to remain in their job.

Part of me finds it difficult to have much sympathy for anti-vaxxers, but I then realise that most of them are likely to have been subjected to misinformation and aren't the evil characters that some would make them out to be.