They can do their publicity stunts in March when we actually start to have enough for everyone who wants it

That's a fair point, but consider how starting with "you don't need a mask" and then just a few months later switching to "no, really, everyone should wear masks" backfired hard. There's a real value to sending the right message, with no equivocation, right off the bat. If a few hundred doses going to non-critical people today greatly increase the vaccination rate six months from now, that seems like a reasonable call.

I may be wrong. I just don't see this as a big issue either way, because there are decent arguments for and against this, and it's a pretty small amount of vaccine doses we're talking about.