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”.
It seems Bill Gates is the new villain in Pakistan
“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