https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/we-are-all-respons...
The author is a surgeon. He says things that many of us have been saying all along. Hopefully, his professional background will help wake some people up.
The author is a surgeon. He says things that many of us have been saying all along. Hopefully, his professional background will help wake some people up.
No government or healthcare system can keep up with people flouting the scientific recommendations on such a scale.
- If the health infrastructure could not take it, what was the reason for this narrative ? https://www.thequint.com/news/india/in-january-pm-modi-had-e...
- Did they not know about vaccine demand ? https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/world/2021-01-20-india-phar...
- Why did they take away the states ability to prepare ? https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/apr/09/as-per-n...
What's with the hyperbole? To disprove your point, I just have to point to one thing that the government did that was not PR?
- What narrative, specifically?
- At the time, I too was in support of supplying vaccines to countries who were in desperate need of it. I still don't mind waiting a few months if the vaccines that should have come to me go to a healthcare worker in some other country instead. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26346021
- There is no reason to take anything Shiv Sena says at face value. This is the single worst party in India. If law and order had worked in India, these people would have been declared terrorists long before most of us were born. They continue to mistreat doctors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vUUQEpJEG4) and threaten hospitals (https://twitter.com/amitsurg/status/1299352826636722176) across the state. Also, while all other states had the pandemic somewhat under control at one time or another, MH consistently stayed at #1 or #2 among the worst affected states.
> (from the Indian Express article) We need to accept that the politicians do not decide what we do in our everyday routine.
The federal government of India, for its part, was very much cognizant of the surge. Their press releases noted the surge in a few states as early as February 20th (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1699596), which was a very fast reaction. The federal government provided updated guidance to the affected states the very next day (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1699735), but did not force any decision on individual states, in keeping with the cooperative federalism that governs the health ministry's decisions. Regular guidance updates and interventions continued thereon.
Like your article suggests, my feeling is that this situation will end up being attributable to a mix of increased general mobility across society, combined with the unfortunate advent of more infectious variants, rather than any singular factor. Looking at the latest mobility graphs (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/changes-visitors-covid?co...), we can increasing mobility preceding the surge and then a big drop in mobility around March 27th, when the daily number of cases was 3x the low point but half the prior peaks. We can wish for earlier change in behaviors now, but the timeline of how society reacted is not entirely unreasonable - it's simply the reality of seeing data and reacting to it with some natural time delay. As for the risk of new variants, per a breaking Reuters article (https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-scienti...), some scientists identified that certain new variants were responsible for many cases and that they also seem to be able to escape antibodies:
> A version of that draft, seen by Reuters, set out the forum’s findings: the new Indian variant had two significant mutations to the portion of the virus that attaches to human cells, and it had been traced in 15% to 20% of samples from Maharashtra, India's worst-affected state.
> The draft statement said that the mutations, called E484Q and L452R, were of “high concern.” It said “there is data of E484Q mutant viruses escaping highly neutralising antibodies in cultures, and there is data that L452R mutation was responsible for both increased transmissibility and immune escape."
The findings were shared with the Health Ministry on March 10th, and publicly released on March 24th. This article notes that it is unclear if this report was ever sent to Modi. Interestingly enough, this Reuters article mentions many possible missteps or contributing factors, but also quotes a scientist who is careful not to place singular blame on anyone, just like the Indian Express article you linked:
> To be sure, some scientists say the surge was much larger than expected and the setback cannot be pinned on political leadership alone. "There is no point blaming the government," Saumitra Das, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, which is part of INSACOG, told Reuters.
> It's easy in hindsight
In a whole year of time to prepare, with examples in numerous nations, who could possibly have fathomed that a rapidly mutating virus would evolve to overcome the immunological barriers presented in India?
Many people! Not only were experts and opposition members warning about a possible disastrously second wave, we even have district collectors who acted on such fears.
And it is apparent today, to normal people, that creating reserves of oxygen, vaccine and preparation was possible last year. It is entirely the failure of this government to instead have indulged in its beliefs of "naturopathy, homeopathy, unani, cow urine" and the rest.
Not to mention, this is Modi being hoisted on his own petard. He has built a system that bows to him, waits for his decisions and his action. He has built that image and acted according to it. He has weakened every independent body and applied pressure everywhere.
So if he is adding his image to COVID vaccine certificates, is it also not his charge to have protected the country from this disaster?