Quick Takeaways
- Dr. Anthony Fauci has said “Sometime by the end of March, the beginning of April that the normal healthy man and woman in the street, who has no underlying conditions, would likely get [the vaccine].“
- Microsoft has recently announced that their latest Xbox Series X|S will remain difficult to obtain until June of 2021.
- In a quick poll of 735 gamers we found that, given the choice, 58% of gamers would prefer a new Xbox system over getting the vaccine today.
Most of us are spending the majority of our time at home, waiting patiently for our turn to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to get that familiar hum of civilized life back. Along with this additional home-time, video games are more popular than ever, helping to keep us entertained and sane. Due to this huge demand surge, both the new Playstation and Xbox consoles remain very difficult, if not impossible to find for the average gamer.
Vaccination Timeline for the “Normal, Healthy Man and Woman on the Street”
It’s a question we’ve all been asking ourselves and our loved ones: when is it my turn for the vaccine? There have been many timeframes put forth and the vaccine availability situation is obviously dependant on a lot complex variables but late last year Dr Anthony Faucy, The US’ director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said:
Sometime by the end of March, the beginning of April that the normal healthy man and woman in the street, who has no underlying conditions, would likely get [the vaccine].“
Dr. Fauci to MSNBC
Paul Ostrowski, an official working with Operation Warp Speed made a similar estimate saying “100% of Americans that want the vaccine will have had the vaccine by June“.
Other academics have also estimated “late spring, early summer” as a general time frame for this deployment of vaccines.
Again, we want to emphasize that these numbers may change or as the CDC puts it:
‘The goal is for everyone to be able to easily get a COVID-19 vaccination as soon as large quantities of vaccine are available. As vaccine supply increases but remains limited, ACIP will expand the groups recommended for vaccination.’— US Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Microsoft Announces Xbox Production Delays to Continue into June
Less important to the survival of our species but nevertheless still important to many comes news that the Xbox Series X will be remain nearly impossible to obtain through June of 2021. The new console was released in early November of last year but due to surging demand, in part because of the pandemic, they’ve remained very difficult to obtain for the average consumer not willing to camp out at a Gamestop for a night or two in the winter time. It looks like this will remain the case through Q2 of 2021, according to Microsoft.
Most Gamers Would Prefer a New Xbox over an Early Vaccine
We were curious about whether the average gamer would prefer a new Xbox Series X or a Covid-19 Vaccine right now, in this moment where both are scarce, but coming soon. We’re fully aware of the silliness of the question and the variables like age, health and location that are hard to capture here. But curiosity prevailed we took a quick straw poll with our partners at Google Surveys— here’s what we found:
Gamers: Would you rather have an Xbox Series X or Covid-19 Vaccine Today?
A clear majority of gamers in our snapshot poll said they’d prefer a new gaming system to the vaccine that so many people are out there waiting in line for ours every day for access to one.
Of course, there are many factors at play here including the average age and health of our respondents but overall we think it’s fair to say that a large proportion of gamers are very anxious to get their hands on Microsoft’s newest gaming console.
Image source: New York Times
