Taking part in the ongoing talks around whether vaccination drive should have been open to all since the beginning, Rahul Bhatia says everything needs to be systematic. The Anchor, dancer, blogger, actor and entrepreneur goes on to adds that when the first wave of Covid-19 hit India, it was seen how people above 45 years were getting more affected.
“The situation was more dangerous for them that is the reason why after frontline workers and elders, vaccination was opened to 45 plus people and that was the right thing to do. When the second wave came in which youngsters between 18 to 44 years were getting more affected, we were not prepared and we didn’t know that something like this is going to happen. So the government then opened the process for everyone above the age of 18,” he says.
Rahul is yet to take his first does. “I have still did not get any slot. I try to get registered every day, sometimes the OTP doesn’t come, some time the site does not work. I check slots every morning, afternoon and even during midnight but slots are always either unavailable or booked,” he adds.
He goes on to add that the pandemic has taught one thing that such a crisis can happen again so we need to keep our immune system strong and for that we have to take good care of our health and the look after the well being of our family too.
“It is quite clear that people with comorbidities are getting affected the most. So those who have diabetes, blood pressure, hyper tension, heart issue, COPD etc are in danger. This pandemic has taught us to eat right, have a good sleep and keep health on our priority list,” he explains.
He also sounds upset about how the government is handling the economic crisis. “At times it feels like the government is trying to hide something. We have n idea as to what is being done to revive the economy, but if we see petrol prices have reached Rs 100, in fact price of everything is increasing, business are getting shattered, unemployment is increasing, people who working even they are getting half paid. It’s the fact that whatever is happening in economy is real which are not been shown news channels but when you see social media, you know the actual scenario,” he adds.
Rahul continues, “I genuinely feel that the government should do something about this right now. We pay taxes, GSTs, where are those money going. It’s government responsibility and our right to ask what are they doing for the betterment of the country, how are they helping the unemployed, are they making sure that medical facilities reach us all and it’s affordable. School education has become free in the US, but there is nothing like that in our country.”
