Will
our people accept the Covid-19 vaccine?
MAY 27, 2020
A few days back I read an
article in the New York Times about what would happen if half of the U.S. population
refused to get vaccinated against Covid-19 (whenever a vaccine is developed). I
found there is a very vocal anti-vaccine movement in the United States (despite
its literacy rate being much higher than that of Pakistan). It is very likely
that a great number of Americans (probably more than a quarter of the
population) would reject the vaccine, risking thousands of lives beside their
own.
A few days back I read an article in the New York
Times about what would happen if half of the U.S. population
refused to get vaccinated against Covid-19 (whenever a vaccine is developed). I
found there is a very vocal anti-vaccine movement in the United States (despite
its literacy rate being much higher than that of Pakistan). It is very likely
that a great number of Americans (probably more than a quarter of the
population) would reject the vaccine, risking thousands of lives beside their
own.
So I got to wondering what would be the reaction of our people
to a vaccine for COVID-19. Our experience so far tells us that many (if not
most) Pakistanis would be skeptical and refuse to get themselves or their
children vaccinated. We have seen how our illiterate preachers have brainwashed
their followers into believing that the polio vaccine is a tool to reduce the
population of Muslims. That is why Pakistan is now only one of two countries
(along with Afghanistan) where polio has not been eradicated (Nigeria, which
was also polio-affected, has not had a case since 2016). Our vaccination teams
are routinely attacked and both male and female health workers shot dead in
many areas of the country. So how can we expect the COVID-19 vaccine to be
welcomed in Pakistan?
“None of my relatives or friends have died of this virus, and I
have never met anyone who knows anyone who has this virus, this Corona thing is
a hoax”, said the manager of a store in DHA where I buy all my groceries and
medicines.
“It’s all a drama”, said a vegetable seller. “They want to
reduce the population of Muslims, like they did with the polio vaccine”.
“You can see it’s meant to cause friction within Muslims”, said
a PTI loyalist. “When they said people should stay six feet away from each
other, my wife left me to live with her parents. Thank God we have Skype,
otherwise I’d have forgotten what she looks like by now”.
“Only a thousand deaths in Pakistan in three months”, says the
imam of the mosque near my house, “We don’t need a vaccine, it’s not a serious
disease”.
“This sanitizer is made from alcohol, before long our bodies
will crave it so much that we’ll be forced to drink it to be able to survive”,
says a deeply religious man I’ve known for many years
A neighbor of mine said, “It’s always the same, I have never
come across anyone whose near relatives have succumbed to this so-called
disease”. Why “so-called”? I asked. “It’s a conspiracy, this Covid-19 thing,”
he said. “It’s meant for the government to make common people like us
contribute to their funds so that our leaders can enrich themselves. This
vaccine will make some people very wealthy”.
Then there is this viral
message on WhatsApp: “Do you think coronavirus is as dangerous as projected by
media? Or is the purpose of the media campaign to create panic so that Pharma
companies can sell their products like sanitizer, masks, medicine etc? Or is it
Bill Gates and his masters who want to sell their vaccines, install chips and
control world population to launch their world government?”
It’s evident that the vast
majority of our people believe that coronavirus is not real, it’s a conspiracy
hatched by enemies of Muslims to prevent them from practicing Islam. Even
though people in Saudi Arabia were told to pray at homes instead of going to
mosques they still believe it’s a plot to change Muslims into atheists. And as
this was repeated thousands of times, it was only natural that our people
should flout all government directives to wear masks and observe social
distancing when the lockdown was relaxed. Saudi Arabia has ordered a curfew
during all four days of the Eid holidays next week. Do you think our people
would passively remain at home if a curfew is ordered in Pakistan during Eid
holidays? I would bet that all of them would openly defy it, even if it meant
getting shot and losing their lives. So why should we expect them to accept a
vaccine, whenever it is available?
It seems Bill Gates is the
new villain in Pakistan. In a viral video, a man is heard saying that the
vaccine being developed by Bill Gates would turn Muslims away from Islam
(without of course turning Christians and Hindus turn away from their
religions). How would the vaccine do it? How would Bill Gates ensure that only
Muslims would be affected? But then, our people are simpletons, and they easily
believe in conspiracies, perhaps because they have very little knowledge of
science. And for this we have only ourselves to blame, as we elect ignorant and
corrupt politicians to our assemblies.
The writer is
an engineer, a former visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, an
industrialist, and has been associated with the petroleum, chemical industries
for many years. He tweets @shakirlakhani
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