Timothy W
Dimapur
Starting right from the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in India, there has been a fear paradigm regarding the division between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated (apart from the fear of the virus itself) and a greater fear of a seclusion of the unvaccinated from gatherings, schools and offices, markets and other business establishments, receiving government provisions and so on. This led to many people rushing to get the vaccines, especially during the initial phase of vaccination. Just a few days ago, this fear became a reality in the light of Unlock 3 in Nagaland when the Government of Nagaland, Home Department, NSDMA released an order for the employees/staff in the Nagaland Civil Secretariat and Directorate to either get vaccinated or produce a COVID-19 negative test report every 15 days, else they would be debarred from office and from receiving a salary (Order: NO.NSDMA-ER-COVID19/301/2020 (Part-II)/5515). So employees who choose not to get a COVID vaccine due to health and personal reasons will have to bear the painful process of being poked in the nostrils every 15 days. What would this mean to the general public of Nagaland if this same condition is imposed in the other departments as well? And what about such a thing as personal liberty (the liberty of choice) and the right to work and earn a livelihood under such conditions? And what does it say about the democracy in Nagaland?
Firstly, let us consider Article 21 of the Constitution of India - protection of life and personal liberty, the Article that is the widest for scope and interpretation. While this Article promises people the access to vaccines (right to health), the same promises people the choice not to get vaccinated (personal liberty) and a right to earn their livelihood (right to life). Secondly, let us consider the COVID Vaccine - no doubt, any COVID vaccine reduces symptoms and possibly reduces the risk of getting infected, however, the vaccinated are still vulnerable to the virus and becomes an active transmitter of it as it is evident in daily headlines. Therefore the risks are wildly similar for both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Moreover, the COVID vaccines are still experimental, produced within one year of the international outbreak, no information regarding injuries, disabilities, possible genetic side effects, death, whatsoever over a period of 5, 10 and 20 years. The very Government that mandates the vaccines offers no provision to compensate the vaccinated in case of adverse events (TOI, April 6, 2021).
This means that a person receiving the vaccine is based on pure trust upon the big pharma and the government on the idea that they are for the best interests of the people. In a democracy, our true power is not simply our voice but our trust. Our trust, their power. As people with power, we have to foresee what phenomena the vaccinated and unvaccinated divide will cause - a great social division into a first class of citizens and a second class of citizens.
Today it's one department, tomorrow it'll be the others for sure. Today it's the government sector, tomorrow the private. Today it's an experimental vaccine with no compensation for death or injury whatsoever, tomorrow it'll be something more invasive and unethical. Today it's about our jobs, tomorrow it'll be about our lives. It's the boiling frog syndrome.
Being the largest democracy in the world, unfair policies that promote medical discrimination should be unheard of and uncalled for. Even in this extraordinary situation of a worldwide pandemic, a democracy is still a democracy, and a democratic state is still of the people, for the people and by the people. We are still a democracy conscious nation and strife to remain one. As the virus mutates into deadlier strains, it is my sincere prayer that our government would not mutate into dystopian authoritarian systems.
