I meant rationality in the economic sense, where we would purely look at the cost-benefit of the decision, and where everyone else would look at it the same way

I meant rationality in the economic sense, where we would purely look at the cost-benefit of the decision, and where everyone else would look at it the same way. In that case, even a slight net savings in lives would be OK, even if that meant that administering the vaccine would cause some deaths. I'm not saying that is how we SHOULD act. I'm definitely not saying that's how we DO act. Clearly, taking into account all of the factors that you mention, we have a very high standard for action, and that's a rational choice given the realities. It's still not a rational choice from the economics perspective, which strictly looks at cost/benefit.