The decline in the positivity rate should not be taken to mean the end of the fourth wave of the covid-19 pandemic that was started by the deadly delta variant, but should be considered as a confirmation of the proposition that vaccinating the population would break the grip of the dreaded coronavirus, More specifically, the vaccination programme has meant that the healthcare system has not had to face the kind of stress placed on it in India, where there was a time when corpses were put out in the streets and cremation grounds ran out of capacity.
The government seems to have got its vaccination programme right, even though it has had to use such draconian measures as stopping salaries and travel restrictions for the unvaccinated to force people into getting vaccinated. However, such strong-arm methods have not just been dictated by the severity of the crisis at hand, but justified by the decline in the number of new infections. Another important factor which the government has managed is the supply of the vaccine. The vaccination drive could have collapsed almost before gathering steam if enough people had been turned away from the vaccination centres. Indeed, this had begun to happen, but now it seems, primarily because of regular inflows from China, the NCOC has so far managed things that no one is turned away at the vaccination centres.
Perhaps the worst thing that is being faced at the moment is the unscrupulousness of certain elements has combined with the laziness of some to produce a thriving market for documentation of the unvaccinated. Before this becomes ‘institutionalised’, and certain posts become regarded as lucrative, this menace must be crushed. The development of such scams indicates the change in attitude promised by the present government has not taken place; however, this must be stamped out firmly before it becomes rooted. Besides, if there is widespread evasio of the vaccine, there will be a resurgence of the illness. At the same time one of the greatest failings of this government during this pandemic has been an apparently incurable optimism that has led it to let down its guard whenever there is anything resembling a positive development. This is no time to celebrate, for the struggle against covid-19 is a long way from over.
