Erin Farmer has never been considered obese. The 25-year-old threw a weight throw at the 2016 U.S. Olympics and was an Arkansas State Division 1 athlete, but the Texas State Department of Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yes.
Farmers, as 42.5% of Americans, has body mass index of more than 30, making it eligible for the coronavirus vaccine in its state of origin. At least 29 states have extended their eligibility for the vaccine to people who qualify as obese.
When he learned that the metric qualified her for the vaccine, Farmer felt a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, she was prepared for the obesity label that has followed her throughout her life, usually with negative connotations, to work for her. He also considered that while it met the criteria for an obese person, it was an unfair categorization.
“I was an athlete all my life,” he said. “So my weight isn’t really reflected in the way I live my life and my lifestyle. I understand that people feel ashamed of that because obviously your weight doesn’t determine who you are as a person. nor your health “.
And data on obesity-related public emotions prove it. Nirit Pisano, a clinical psychologist and chief psychologist at Cognovi Labs, a group that uses artificial intelligence to look at public emotions and behavior around certain subjects, decided to use the company’s AI to study the subject after speaking with a customer who struggled to find out. qualified for the vaccine as an obese person.
“I saw this huge wave of people really responding emotionally to that very thing, so there’s a lot of disgust and anger,” Pisano said.
He said the obesity label is harsh, he said.
“It’s emotional for a lot of people. And even for those who have it, whether you’ve struggled with weight, whether you agree with your weight or at any stage you have it, seeing it in writing d ‘this way or just have a word there’.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists overweight people among those who have them they face increased risk when it comes to COVID-19. As many states have expanded their eligibility, they have followed the CDC guidelines on BMI as a broad way to classify people for whether or not they are at risk because of their size.
Sabrina Strings, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California Irvine and author of “Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia,” defined BMI as an ineffective and offensive way to expand vaccine eligibility. he said “there is a much greater relationship between negative outcomes and race.”
Strings believes that vaccines should have been prioritized for race-based groups because the coronavirus disproportionately affects people of color. This is backed up by data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, which shows that black people have died of coronavirus at a rate 1.4 times faster than white people.
But the use of obesity to expand vaccine eligibility follows reports indicating that obesity is a major factor in hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19.
For example, the World Obesity Federation found that 88% of deaths from COVID-19 were in countries with a majority of the population considered overweight or obese. And a study conducted last month at Tufts University found that it is estimated that 30.2% of U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations are due to obesity as a major cardio-metabolic risk factor. Other factors considered in the study were diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure. Combined, it was estimated that all four factors were related to more than two-thirds of U.S. hospitalizations for COVID-19.
However, Strings says there is no evidence that obesity is the direct cause of the increase in deaths or hospitalizations.
“When we’re studying these studies, what they show are correlations,” he said. “They always try to make it look like BMI is causing these negative health outcomes. But that’s not the information that statistics, especially cross-sectional data, can provide. Cross-sectional data can only show relationships.”
Emma Specter, who qualified for the vaccine based on her BMI, wrote about the fatphobia and fattening that surrounded her by using metrics to expand the vaccine’s eligibility.
She said she initially spent some time debating whether or not to get vaccinated, as she believed she could move her away from someone else who needs her more or from a front-line worker.
“Once he replied that it doesn’t really work, I can’t target a vaccine to someone else because it’s based on the zip code and comorbidities. Well, once I found out, I did it I didn’t have much hesitation “, he said.
Both Farmer and Specter advocated for other people to be vaccinated, regardless of qualification.
“I think if you have a chance to get it, you should get it to not only protect yourself, but also protect others around you. And if that means society has to look obese. or fat, then it’s okay, okay, now you have the vaccine, ”Farmer said. “If the label discourages you as obese, I’d just say it obviously doesn’t connect that to your self-esteem.”
Specter said that when choosing the vaccine, she had to understand herself and identify as an obese person. He explained that many of those who have been qualified by the metric have struggled with shame and embarrassment because of how society has characterized people with obesity.
“I think, to be honest, we’ve cited this as a bad thing. And we’ve cited fat people as lazy, unworthy, and unhealthy and so many other things that it’s really hard,” Specter said. “As someone much smarter than me said, who I don’t remember at the moment,” you don’t have to demonstrate a certain level of work. The sterling character must not be demonstrated. You don’t have to prove that you only eat salads. “”