This refers to your cover story Can We Stop the Surge? (April 12). Our vaccination drive has still not taken off full throttle, mainly because people have doubts about the efficacy and side-effects of the available vaccines. The only way to accelerate the drive and increase the coverage is to reach out to people where they are. The vaccination team should go house to house, with a doctor and the sarpanch or councillor personally assuring the family members. Vaccines should be made available at all government health centres, dispensaries and community centres. Let there be no shortage of vaccines and no preconditions for vaccination other than those related to medical conditions. The entire drive should be coordinated by a central agency and those who get the jab should be given a certificate immediately by the concerned doctor. In this way, vaccine coverage will expand and people will accept it more easily.
Col R.D. Singh (Retd), Ambala Cantt
We must understand that everybody cannot be vaccinated simultaneously. So, until everyone is vaccinated, we must observe the COVID-19 protocol. But we see large-scale violations of the protocol everywhere. In Delhi, for example, we find people roaming around without masks in almost every market. Social distancing norms have gone for a toss. It is almost as if people are inviting the coronavirus, asking it to “come, party with us”. And, surprisingly, enforcement agencies are usually mere spectators. In Delhi, the number of Covid-related challans has decreased considerably, despite rampant violations of the norms. Meanwhile, vaccine hesitance continues. If we want to contain the virus, then we must increase the pace of vaccination. The government must allow vaccination of every adult as soon as possible, and should reach out to people instead of waiting for them to come to the vaccination centres. People too should act more responsibly and strictly observe the Covid protocol. District administrations and the police must be proactive and meticulous in enforcing the protocol. All these measures must be taken simultaneously to break the Covid chain, or else lockdown may become the only alternative.
D.B. Madan, New Delhi
The surge in new Covid cases paints a grim picture of the current situation and requires us to recognise the need to take the pandemic far more seriously than we now do. The image of shrouded bodies of people who succumbed to Covid, kept together in a crematorium at Beed in Maharashtra, was deeply distressing. It was a sombre reminder of the difficult and unsettled times we live in. We have to be doubly cautious as the virus mutates into new variants and spreads quickly. It has been told for the umpteenth time that wearing a mask and social distancing are effective in containing the spread of the disease. Still many people conspicuously avoid these basic measures. The second Covid wave is explicable in terms of virus behaviour and its mutation into more infectious variants as well as public fatigue and complacency about Covid-appropriate behaviour. We have no option but to mount a response based on science to bring the pandemic under control. Data on the second wave indicate that children and young adults are also vulnerable to the infection that has been called an ‘old man’s disease’. As for the vaccine strategy, it must be flexible enough to deal with the evolving situation. ‘One size fits all’ cannot be applied in our vast country. The pandemic hotspots should be given precedence for vaccination with further relaxation of the age limit. By increasing the supply of vaccines, this can be done without the inoculation programme elsewhere being affected.
A complete lockdown as in the initial phase of the pandemic outbreak would spell loss of the means of livelihood and unendurable economic hardships for the impoverished multitudes, and disruption of supply chains. So it could be the last resort when all other attempts to contain the spread of the disease fail. It is absolutely imperative that we do what we can individually and collectively to beat the present wave and get the better of the scourge.
G. David Milton, Maruthancode (Tamil Nadu)
A second wave of Covid has gripped many parts of the country, creating panic and fear of repeated lockdowns. When the need of the hour for every individual was to religiously follow the Covid protocol—wearing a mask, maintaining social distance and avoiding crowds—people are seen throwing the protocol to the winds. Public places and markets are seen flooded with people without masks and with no care for social distancing. We need to make our daily behavior Covid-appropriate or be prepared for the worst. The government needs to focus on the vaccination of people of all age-groups in relatively highly affected regions, and of targeted age-groups in other places. The policy needs to be one of ‘home first’. Vaccine requirement of the country must be met before exporting vaccines to the rest of the world.
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
The upsurge in Covid cases and the mudslinging during electioneering in Assam, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry have got the Outlook editor quite worried (A Pandemic, and a Plague, April 12). Let us have a positive attitude. We have overcome many such curses in the past—leprosy, smallpox and plague—and average life spans have multiplied. And we are going to win again.
M.N. Bhartiya, Alto-Porvorim (Goa)
This refers to your Pollscape story on Kerala (God Finds Place in Own Country, April 12). I spoke to many friends from Kerala who are not against love and interfaith marriage, yet claim that ‘love jehad’ is a real threat. They object to the way marriage is used to wipe out the previous identity of the woman. There are also many interfaith marriages where both partners retain their names and identities, and celebrate festivals of both religions. Making a woman sever all her links to her past is a sinister attempt to kill her culturally and surely a violation of human rights. Religious faith cannot be based on compulsion.
Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao, Vijayawada
The reporter excellently elaborates on the political situation in Kerala and the prospects of the CPI(M)-led LDF’s victory in the assembly polls. It seems Pinarayi Vijayan’s welfare schemes and stand on Sabarimala have been translated into votes for the LDF, even as the Congress-led UDF remains in a tight spot because of internal rift. However, the BJP is likely to increase its voteshare.
K.V. Vaidyanathan, Ahmedabad
Outlook’s April 12 issue carried a two-page ad of the Punjab government. I could not help comparing Captain Amarinder Singh with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Didi has believed in doling out largesse at the expense of the state exchequer and has little to show by way of infrastructure or industrial development. She has also had regular confrontations with the Centre. By contrast, the Punjab CM, despite belonging to the Congress, never had any differences with the Centre on security and allocation of funds, and quietly took what was due to his state. He will likely see another term as CM as the BJP does not have a strong base in Punjab and the Akalis having lost their steam after differing with the BJP on the farmers’ protest.
Rangarajan T.S., Bangalore
