Everyone needs to get on vaccination line

Throughout life, we are conditioned to get to the front of the line. As children, we try to get the ice cream before it sells out. Then comes the anxiety of trying to seize concert tickets before they vanish. It will forever remain a mystery why everyone wants to be the first on an airplane ... and the first off.

In business, being the first to launch a product gives leverage in almost any market.

But if anything should inspire passion to get in front, it is the virtual line forming worldwide to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

If only we had faith this were happening. Perhaps the hardest learned lesson of 2020 was that people just won’t agree, even when it comes to taking relatively modest personal steps to protecting the human race.

Wearing a mask and maintaining distance may not seem like mild sacrifices to some, and that’s precisely the problem. If more people remained in quarantine in the early months of the pandemic, it might have been thwarted long ago. Instead, the coronavirus is peaking.

Seniors can offer a model for subsequent generations by getting their shots.

Beginning next week, Connecticut residents who are 75 and older and do not reside in long-term care facilities can sign up to get the first dose. Those in the latter category will get their shots through visiting clinics.

In addition the first wave of eligible seniors, front-line health care workers and medical first responders can also get the vaccine.

Confusion is almost certain, so everyone needs to pay attention. The impulse for seniors will be to call their doctor. But Gov. Ned Lamont’s office is spreading the word that they will not find “the line” at a primary care physician.

Instead, Lamont is launching a website (ct.gov/covidvaccine) and phone number (877-9182224) so people can make an appointment. The medical community should be prepared to promote the site, the phone number and the urgency to get the vaccine. People trust their doctors more than any politician.

Many Connecticut communities are already collecting local data to help spread the word on who can make an appointment. Some municipalities and health care providers created channels to Vaccine Administration Management System, which is coordinating registration.

We often bemoan the resistance of many Connecticut towns and cities to look beyond local borders. If ever there was a time to share best practices, this is it. It doesn’t help if one local website informs visitors that residents over 65 with compromised immune systems are eligible, but the information is not mirrored elsewhere. More people are home-bound than ever before, and surfing the web can be a vortex of confusion.

We urge people to try to get to the front of this line. That way, it will hasten the return of “normal,” and we can get back to elbowing one another to get to the front of the line for ice cream, tickets and business deals.