Letter: Seniors should be first

Posted by ChaddsFordLive on December 15, 2020

My name is Fred Barakat. I'm 71 years old. I've lived in Pennsylvania all my life and in Chester County since 1980. There's no question that this opinion is motivated by self-interest, but I firmly believe it is the correct view.

The current vaccine distribution plan puts senior citizens in the third priority of distribution. According to the CDC numbers, this is pretty much a death sentence for far too many people, and placing seniors first in line should be considered for the correct priority.

According to the CDC, 269,000 people died of COVID in the U.S. as of Dec. 9, (30,000 more since). Of those 269,000 people, 208,000 were senior citizens and 108,000 were in nursing homes and other senior facilities. With all due respect to our brave young men and women on the front lines, they are not the people dying of this disease, we are. Even the front-line deaths have likely been mainly among senior citizens. Worse, the seniors dying outside of nursing homes, in my opinion, were likely infected in many cases by asymptomatic family members unaware that they had spread the disease to their loved ones. I seldom see my grandchildren. If I contract this disease I likely will die alone and will never see them again. All of us want to return to normal life, but in my opinion, those at highest risk, seniors, should be placed first in line, along with front line workers