The baffling aspect of the recent Covid-19 surge in many regions, including the capital, is that while cases are shooting up amongst common people, there seems to be no such thing happening to either the agitating farmers on Delhi’s borders or the participants of election rallies in the five poll-bound states. The curious aspect of this spurt is that it is taking place in spite of the stepped-up efforts of the government and private agencies to provide vaccines in various parts. There have been instances where despite being administered the vaccines, people have been afflicted with the pandemic; which should be no reason why precautions should not be taken. Vaccines could work in most cases and it is essential that there should be no let-up in wearing masks or maintaining safe distance as per the laid down stipulations. There is a WhatsApp forward that is circulating which shows people observing the distance norm at the airport while boarding the aircraft but sitting inside all crammed up. Similarly, there is no regulation in election rallies which are attended by lakhs of people but on the voting day, the Covid rules come into operation. Strange logic but true. A visit to the Sarojini Nagar market for instance or to Karol Bagh or the walled city would indicate that the advisory is being totally ignored and people are freely roaming around without masks. The fear is gone, though the disease remains.
Without taking anything away from the seriousness with which citizens should follow rules, the Covid pandemic is being used by private nursing homes and doctors to make money. Hospitals continue to admit patients, knowing fully well that there is no cure for the virus, and are charging exorbitant amounts as the nursing home fees. Should something not be done about that. Fortunately, in India, the spread has not been as lethal as it has been in many of the Western countries. In a country with over 135 crores, the number of deaths in the past one year due to Covid is many times less than the number of deaths which take place due to various other factors on a daily basis. This could be because of the natural immunity amongst the people, many of whom have got cured while not even realising that they had been afflicted at some stage or the other.
There are cynics who continue to question the efficacy of the vaccines which they believe could not have been perfected in such a short span of time despite many advancements of science. Therefore, in their estimation, the push to go in for vaccines worldwide could be driven by the powerful pharma lobby which has made huge bucks since the past few months. There is no doubt that the pharma lobby is far more powerful than the arms lobby ever was. However, it would be foolish to throw caution to the winds and not take the advice of experts on precautions for the prevention of the pandemic. Life never gives another chance. So, the best is to observe all norms and follow your doctor’s counsel.