Government’s Covid Policy Needs Re-orientation

One national newspaper today (The Indian Express, 9th April 2021) carried a front-page headline on the Government’s Covid policy. The cornerstone of this policy is ‘Test, Track and Quarantine”. We are told that in the last year we won against Covid by following this policy, and that too when there was no vaccine on the horizon and life was full of uncertainty; the medical community and experts were groping in darkness when little was known about the newly-arrived dreaded disease. Therefore, we should follow the same policy even now and not jump the gun by demanding an intensive vaccination drive.

All that is said is true and merits consideration. However, there are two notable differences from last year’s mid-April situation. First, we were then in a total lock-down and this time the economy is open and its wheels are turning; our Governments, State and Central, wish to avoid a lock-down as much as possible. Second, there is a vast difference in public attitude. Last year the people were mortally afraid of the novel virus and adopting Covid-compliant behavior. This time round, they are not so fearful and tired of following the Covid protocols. Their attitude now can be called ‘Covid-defiant’.

Suppose we follow ‘testing and contact-tracing’. What after that? Most of the traced contacts would end up in crowded localities in the worst affected cities of Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kanpur etc. Most of the households thus tracked would have many members in one or two rooms where several bread-earners are also accommodated; these bread-earners have to go out to attend to their jobs and businesses in a running economy. How then house-quarantine is possible? Even the non-earning members will not remain in voluntary house-quarantine because now they are in Covid-defiant mood. Does the government have enough man-power to enforce Covid-compliant behavior? The answer is ‘No’.

Even in a country like Britain, the Government is not able to enforce Covid-compliant behavior. They had the 3rd national lockdown and have concentrated on an all-out vaccination program that has now covered more than half the population. The researchers of Imperial College, London have reported that in March there was a 60% drop in fresh-infection rate and the Government has started to lift lock-down gradually. They have also recommended that, for young people below 30, a vaccine different from the Oxford-Astra-Zeneca’s Covishield should be preferred. We in India are lucky to have a ready alternative in the Covaxin, made by a Hyderabad firm, which is also in sufficient supply.

That brings me to the Covid politics being played by the Chhattisgarh government, which has refused to accept any consignment of the Hyderabad-made Covaxin. This casts doubts on our researchers and medical experts who have unequivocally testified to the efficacy of the Covaxin. Any politics around Covid is harmful for the country.

The Central government has not made vaccination mandatory for every citizen and quite rightly so. Firstly, a compulsory vaccination drive may bring out a strong opposing reaction, given the myriad unsavory rumors that are in currency. Secondly, even otherwise, it would be impossible to enforce compulsory vaccination in a free and democratic country like ours.

But this also has a flip side. There is a private Covid vaccination hospital in our neighborhood in Ahmedabad, where the morning shift is reasonably full with a healthy and persistent queue until the lunch time. But in the post-lunch session there are not many vaccine-takers; in between two takers, there is usually a considerable gap when the medical staff is idling, speaking from personal experience.

That is why it is now necessary to lift the age restriction, and let anyone, who is willing, have the vaccine. Let us not have valuable capacity idling. We have not yet covered even one percent of our population. We should not waste our manpower in contact tracing etc. but concentrate on all-out vaccination, night-curfews, localized lock-downs, containment zones, etc. to defeat this formidable enemy. To increase our vaccination supply, we should have given permission with greater alacrity to proven vaccines such as the Russian-made Sputnik-5 or a few others.