The pandemic gears have now shifted to the jab! What was known even before the vaccines came out is now happening. We saw it in the case of Ebola: there was wilful differences in the way it reached people. Every class/busines entity now wants the jab: why? What are their reasons?
In India , the jabs started with the health workers and 60+ and those with comorbidity. Then came the phase of 45+. In the 2nd phase itself, the Courts demanded that their ‘class’ be treated as frontline workers and must get the jab. They questioned how India was exporting/gifting vaccines to other countries first.
Fact: India produces 2M doses per day and their target is 3 M per day. If we take the first 17 days of March data, where1.87 m were given the first jab, India will take 2.4 years to vaccinate 70% of India’s population with the first jab only. WHO rejected the Covishield Indian manufacturer to increase shelf life from 6 to 9 months.
In Goa, we have a Rs30,000 crore tourism lobby rooting to jab their workers and owners today putting forth all kinds of excuses and ‘influential’ people! Mind you, this Industry has people from 18+ years! When will the remaining ‘classes’ of people get their turn?
In the scale of justice: which group must be next? The tourism lobby has a lot in their control. The front office people, restaurants, etc can determine how many people to accommodate so as not to violate social distancing. In South Korea, the tables have glass partitions. They can refuse people who don’t mask up: in fact everything is within their control: they don’t have to rely on the police or any other ‘owner’.
Now take the case of the humble bus commuter/driver/conductor. Can they demand social distancing? Whom will he call if someone doesn’t wear a mask? They are bound to be a major source of transmission with no means of contact tracing. Any which way you look at it, this group must be next.
Poor commuters: they neither have the money, lobby or even a sane voice in the ‘other lobbies’ like GCCI/ASSOCHAM even though many of these commuters work for them! One wonders how they can even look in the mirror!
