This is probably the worst time in history to be 28, male, fit and healthy. You will have to go to the back of the queue when the COVID-19 vaccines are being handed out. Blessed are the middle aged and the elderly for they shall inherit, especially if they have more than one morbidity.
Before we go further, let’s ask ourselves if it is politically correct yet to joke about COVID-19? History has shown that it is only when we joke about a disaster – man-made or natural (and this one seems to be both) – that we can claim to have come to terms with it.
Over a million and a half people have died already, but with the news of the imminent vaccine, many have begun to do something for the first time in months: smile. They have stayed indoors for long, and deserve to smile, perhaps even laugh. A friend called to say how he had “spent all this time lying in bed – just to save the world,” pointing out how much his father had criticized him for doing that in his schooldays. Another said he was looking forward to next year because this one “went viral.”
The vaccine will soon be here. But that doesn’t mean we can throw caution to the winds. Caution doesn’t travel as easily through air as the virus does.
In India, who will receive the vaccines first? I suspect if the wrong people decide, they might choose to vaccinate in alphabetical order. If underlying conditions are required, then all of us know someone close to someone else whose cousin is a politician with a nephew who has the right papers for certifying lying conditions.
What will be the order? Health workers, elderly, those with underlying conditions? Or politicians, their near and dear ones (including businessmen who are nearer and dearer) followed by the highest bidders? We don’t pluck such cynicism out of thin air – it accompanies experience.
Then the paperwork. Aadhar. Ration card. Medical records. Certificates of nationality, age, domicile, and so on. Vaccination centres. Lists. We revel in the signed and stamped. And copies in triplicate.
An editorial in The Guardian pointed out that “In the 2009 swine flu pandemic, high-income countries bought up all vaccine stocks. The evidence suggests that this time, too, they are snatching up supplies at a rate which could leave poorer countries waiting for years.”
This is shortsighted because the virus is no respecter of money or power. If large sections of the population are ignored, we could have the virus going round the world many times.
A US study has shown that those in jails are four times as likely to be infected with coronavirus and twice as likely to die from it as the general population.
So your best chance to go to the head of the queue is to be a 65-year-old prisoner with diabetes and a heart condition. But somehow that doesn’t seem as attractive as being 28, healthy and out of prison.
(Suresh Menon is Contributing Editor, The Hindu)
