Are you Team Pfizer or Team Moderna? According to the internet, this is the biggest self-identity game from Team Edward vs. Team Jacob and it all depends on the vaccine you received.
The very unscientific masses seem to believe that Pfizer’s “girls” are superior. Modern “girls”, not so much. And if you’re a Johnson and Johnson, or dare we say, Astra-Zeneca, we’re sorry to inform you, but you’re not even in the race. (But our science writer has good news for the crowd ignored by J&J!)
Of course, everything is a lot of fun. Experts such as Dr. Fauci said that the best vaccine you can get is the one you are eligible to receive first – as long as both doses are needed if the vaccine requires two vaccines. Each vaccine has been rigorously tested and proven to have a high percentage of efficacy to protect against severe disease and virus death, which is desperately needed.
The coronavirus pandemic has already killed more than 500,000 Americans so far, and community immunity through immunization is the best way to save lives and return to normalcy, no matter what it may look like in the future.
That being said, there’s a reason potential students rise to the top college rankings every year and why millennials still claim that their (and fantastic) Harry Potter’s Harry Hogwarts House is the best.
People have an obsession with belonging, status and coldness, so it was only a matter of time before these impulses caught on among the vaccinated masses. Damn the pandemic, we will always find a way to be part of one group that is better than another.
People on Twitter have made this very clear. They share memes that compare the recipients of the Pfizer vaccine with those of Moderna and can warm up in the comments.
Dr. Donelson R. Forsyth, a social and personality psychologist who teaches at the University of Richmond, told The Daily Beast that this behavior follows a typical human behavior known as “social categorization theory.”
“Naturally, we put everyone we meet in psychologically constructed categories and that includes ourselves. In classical studies of this trend, researchers brought people into a room and divided them into two groups – totally random, “he explained in an e-mail.” Immediately, people would begin to identify with their own group and see people in the other group as negative. Even without ever talking to each other, people assume that they are in the “good group” and that there is something wrong with the people in the other group. ”
“We are so quick to believe that we are ‘against them’ that we use any difference between us to create divisions: Baylor vs. Gonzaga, Morning People vs. Night Owls, Chevy Vs. Ford drivers, Modern vs. Pfizer (I won’t even mention J&Js looking for thrills), ”he added.
But getting a vaccine is not just a symbol of friendly status (or not). It’s literally about life or death. You would think that having enough photos to go, so that everyone who needs or wants one could stifle our exclusive nature, but a Notre Dame work entitled The psychology of competition: a perspective of social comparison suggests that having fewer options actually increases division.
According to the authors, “comparison concerns are intensifying and competitiveness is increasing as the number of competitors decreases, even when the total expected benefits are controlled”. In other words, the fewer competitors there are, such as just four types of vaccines, the more people feel the need to be the best, which explains why Pfizer Diana vs. Modern Camilla. (Although modern people beg to differ.)
In some tweets, people have wondered if they are still compatible with others or their friends? In the same way that novice astrologers would ask if an Aries could fit in harmony with a Libra, people are now wondering if a Pfizer girl could date a modern guy. (Spoiler: It doesn’t matter, as long as both people are fierce).
Whether someone is a J&J hog woman or a modern day woman, at the end of the day, we share a common goal: slowing the spread of COVID as if our lives depend on it. Because nowadays, I do.