What sends Ross off the deep end is that racial equity is being raised in the vaccine allocation discussions. Once we talk race, then it's politics for Ross, and he gets to weigh in. Ross always gets to weigh in. 19/

So, let's talk epidemiology. There are racial disparities with #COVID19 that have not be articulated with para-science," but a tried and true method called counting the bodies. The risk of death for African-Americans is far greater than that of their white counterparts. 20/

And when young people die? They are often again from African-American, Latino communities. This is what the data shows. So discussing racial equity in health isn't a conversation about affirmative action @Harvard. It's about understanding who gets sick, who dies. 21/

Yes a strong case can be made for age-based triaging of vaccine allocation. It doesn't take a pundit to see that. 22/

But in addition to age, race/ethnicity are a strong factor in predicting death from #COVID19 in the US. It's just the facts. 23/

So if you wanted to frame vaccine allocation around preventing the most deaths, you'd go with age+race/ethnicity. 24/

But some people might say you want to prevent "premature deaths,", which might skew vaccine allocation younger. 25/

You might also make a case for instance, for keeping schools open as a social priority, and that would mean teachers would be categorized as "essential workers," and be moved ahead in line. 26/

If you believe these vaccines actually prevent transmission rather than blunting serious disease alone you might want to cluster-bust and head towards prisons, jails, meatpacking plants and Amazon warehouses. 27/

The main point here? It's complicated. But not complicated for @NateSilver538, @mattyglesias & @DouthatNYT who've got the answers and will take down an entire field, well, a diverse set of fields under the rubric of public health with their arrogance and snark. 28/

Who is #ACIP? "14 of the members have expertise in vaccinology, immunology, pediatrics, internal medicine, nursing, family medicine, virology, public health, infectious diseases, and/or preventive medicine; one member is a consumer representative." 29/

But sure, put @NateSilver538, @DouthatNYT and @mattyglesias in charge. How hard can public health be? 30/

It's hard, getting harder. 31/ https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-public-health-michael-brown-kansas-coronavirus-pandemic-5aa548a2e5b46f38fb1b884554acf590