His spouse is vaccinated — he isn’t, and he’s jealous

In my house, we have a problem. My wife has been vaccinated; I haven’t.

Am I envious? Of course I am. Resentful? Yeah, some of that too.

Later, when she complained of a headache and some chills from the second shot, I was, perhaps, a tad less sympathetic than I could have been.

For a year we’ve been housebound together. But suddenly she was eligible for her shots and I was not.

And now (or presumably very soon), she’ll be able to traipse off to a restaurant or a rave or an orgy or a national insurrection, while I’ll still be cowering at home hiding from the virus.

In a way, we’re a microcosm of the country — or of the world, really. We’re divided into haves and have-nots. In our household, she’s the have, and I’m the havenot.

Currently in the U.S., only about 13.6% of the population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; that’s about 1in8ofus.

That’s not good. It’s a recipe for a two-tiered society, in which some people are officially permitted a return to a normality that remains forbidden to the rest of us.

IBM is developing a “digital health pass” that would allow people to present proof of vaccination to be admitted to sports arenas, airplanes or workplaces.

The New York Times reported that Americans over 65, newly vaccinated and “newly emboldened,” are leading a wave in new travel bookings. On the road again with the lucky 13.6%!

Andinwhatmaybe the biggest return to normality for the lucky people who’ve had their shots, the Los Angeles Times quoted medical experts Thursday saying that they can now “enjoy a sex life with other vaccinated people” outside their bubble.

I’m not saying this new bifurcated, “yourpapers-please” society doesn’t make some sense. If it is ultimately shown that vaccinated people really can’t pass the virus on to others (which is not certain yet), then why wouldn’t we allow them greater freedom to reenter the world?

But it’s going to be a weird interregnum.

Sure, people are being told for the moment that even after they get their shots, they should continue to social distance and, for God’s sake, keep those masks on. Dr. Anthony Fauci himself said it is possible Americans will be wearing masks into 2022. And, yes, there are reasons to fear a resurgence due to new variants that don’t respond as well to the existing vaccines.

This state of affairs isn’t just dividing husbands and wives, or parents and children.

There are divisions also between races, between economic classes, between people born just months apart.

And between countries. The share of the population that has been vaccinated in North America and Europe — you’ll be shocked to learn — is far greater than the share in Asia, Africa and South America. In North America, for instance, there have been 11.9 doses administered per 100 people; in Africa, it’s 0.2 doses per 100.

Experts have expressed concern about “vaccine nationalism,” a scenario in which the wealthy countries of the world hoard the vaccine, leaving the virus to run rampant elsewhere.

And that, of course, is disastrous to all of us, since the virus will continue to mutate wherever it can continue to infect people unchecked, and those new variants won’t respect borders.

“There is only one victor in a world of vaccine haves and vaccine havenots: the virus itself,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month.