Sell COVID-brand cigarettes?

by philg

“Smokers in N.J. Are Eligible for Vaccine. No Proof Needed.” (New York Times):

Faced with soaring rates of coronavirus infection and more doses of vaccine in freezers than in arms, New Jersey officials made a calculated choice.

They opened the floodgates of vaccine eligibility on Thursday to about 4.5 million additional residents: those 65 and older and younger people with underlying health problems, including cancer, heart conditions and diabetes — diseases that can lead to severe complications from Covid-19.

As part of the expansion, New Jersey also became only the second state in the country to open vaccinations to another high-risk group — smokers. As is true for all Covid-19 vaccinations in New Jersey, no documentation of an underlying health condition is required.

Could we make a few $$ by selling COVID-brand cigarettes to folks in New Jersey who want to buy their first pack ever and check the “smoker” box when getting a vaccine?

Readers: What should the package look like? A picture of Dr. Fauci on the front and Dr. Jill Biden, MD on the back?

From a state fair in New Jersey, 1995:

8 thoughts on “Sell COVID-brand cigarettes?”

  2. Lucky Strikes, maybe dubbed “Lucky ‘Jects” with a picture of a hypodermic syringe, Fauci on the front, Judith Persichilli on the back, and “All Your Base Are Belong To Us” as the Surgeon General’s warning. Maybe with the “Lucky Strike” circle replaced with a SARS-CoV-2 virion.

    Suggested base image: https://images.app.goo.gl/DCVPu8vrv4cpdULw8 or similar.

    It will take some time…maybe if I have a couple hours this weekend…I’d ideally want a high-res base image without the Indonesian inscription.

  4. The irony is that because New Jersey opened up the vaccine-eligible group too wide, now Garden Staters are finding it difficult to get an appointment to actually receive it. It does me no good to be eligible if I can’t get an appointment!

    Also, if this was such an emergency, vaccines would be available 24/7.

  5. We’ve been here not that long ago. The H1N1 flu pandemic response included launching an immunization campaign in a short period of time.

    The vaccine (it was an actual biological in the generally accepted sense of the term as reflected in US CFR) became available in November 2009. By April 2010, 91M doses had been used out of the 230M doses purchased.

    For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_pandemic_vaccine

    News reports in April ’10 talked about the WHO’s painfully introspective efforts at determining whether “it overreacted to the H1N1 outbreak”. WHO officials were cited “denying accusations that they pandered to pharmaceutical companies keen to profit on large-scale vaccine sales.”

    The 2020 outbreak is a different virus, with an additional important distinction: a tremendous campaign of mass hysteria and panic that far exceeds anything that had been going in 2009.

  6. > From a state fair in New Jersey, 1995

    As you correctly state in the link, that’s from one of the county fairs, as the state fair is held up in Sussex County.

    To make it more confusing, there is a company named State Fair that holds a fair in the Meadowlands Sports Complex every year, but it’s a private affair, not actually endorsed by the state.

  8. And just one more. This one makes the “spike proteins” look a little more like M&M candies.

    I’ll probably leave it at this, I’m losing interest in it. The hypodermic is outlined a little too boldly but I don’t have the motivation to fix it, so we’ll call this done. Credits: CorelDraw 2020 for the vector graphics and lettering, Affinity Photo (demo version, which I’m evaluating) for the compositing, layer effects and JPEG output.

    https://i.ibb.co/3f9DPsm/LUCKYJECTS-VER5.jpg

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