A Love Letter to My Fellow 1c's

Hello, it’s me, your small-fat, plus-sized friend who’s eligible to get the vaccine because of my BMI. Maybe the only thing I hate more than the BMI is COVID-19, so I’m going to my let my BMI get me that vaccine. I have an appointment to get my first dose this month.

Fellow 1C’s, it’s rough out there. I have found solace in a couple of articles lately and I want to share them in hopes that you feel less alone, less stigmatized and fully fucking empowered to go get that vaccine.

Here are the 3 articles that have helped me these past few weeks.

Millions of Americans Qualify for the COVID-19 Vaccine Based on BMI. Why Should We Apologize for It?

by Emma Specter for Vogue

I’m delighted to gain this protection against COVID-19, but given my history of weight-based discrimination within the medical establishment, I can’t help worrying about the potential scrutiny I’m subjecting my body to.
But even as I made my appointment, I felt a little funny that my BMI, a label I’d always brushed off as arbitrary—or, more accurately, expressly fatphobic—was what was allowing me to get my slot.

The Shortcomings of BMI As a Vaccine Eligibility Metric

by Virginia Sole-Smith for elemental

On the list, which matches federal guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cancer, pulmonary disease, heart disease — and obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. But one of these things is not like the other.
But people living in bigger bodies don’t automatically experience limitations as a direct consequence of their weight. They are more vulnerable to Covid-19 for a different reason: stigma. And we should be clear that this is what we’re vaccinating against when we tell fat people that their body is a “comorbidity,” a disease waiting to ally itself with this other disease, and conspire against their survival.

In Obesity Research, Fatphobia Is Always the X Factor

by Virginia Sole-Smith for Scientific American

An analysis of data on 22,476 Americans aged 30 to 64 published in 2020 found that being physically active was associated with a larger reduction in a person’s 10-year heart disease risk than having a normal BMI.
But when researchers talk about these findings, they call them “the obesity paradox,” because it’s so startling to see fat people not dying of heart disease like we’re always told they will.