It's heartening to note that the number of people wanting to be vaccinated has increased manifold. When I got my second dose (on April 15, 2021), it took about ten minutes, but nowadays people have reported a waiting time of more than an hour. But despite growing evidence that the virus is getting more dangerous, a large number of men are hesitant to take the vaccine.
A couple of days back, at the funeral of my aunt, the only ones who were masked were myself, my brothers and my nephew. None of those in the host's family nor among their relatives wore masks. So we asked them why they were so carefree and more importantly, whether they would get themselves vaccinated. All of them said no, even though they have close relatives in India and know about the havoc wreaked in that country by the virus.
Among the anti-vaccine people was my cousin, the son of my late aunt. Although he has a pharmacy degree from a U.S. university, he believes that the vaccines have serious side effects which will become evident in the next year or so. Then there were those who believe their mullahs, who have told them this whole corona thing is a hoax designed to enrich pharmaceutical companies in the west.
I think the government should warn such people that if they don't get vaccinated soon, their cell phones will be blocked, their bank accounts frozen and they will not be able to travel outside the country (or even within the country). That's the only thing that will make them comply.
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