The Coronavirus pandemic- An eye-opener for the state of civilization

The Coronavirus pandemic has shown us what we truly are.

At the height of the pandemic, countries were fighting to know where it originated whereas the main focus should have been to develop the vaccine at the earliest and ensure putting healthcare systems in place that could prevent a further pandemic. Leave inter-countries bickering, the pandemic also threw up a kind of political slugfest where politicians were taking each other down and drawing mileages of the pandemic.

Yes, religious foolery was also there, as always. Minorities in some countries and races were blamed for the pandemic whereas research showed that the virus loved all equally. The inter-regional and racial rivalry was touching peaks, even when we were being equally punished by the disease.

And to make matters worse, came Vaccine Nationalism. This was something unseen beforehand. Humanity was stripped of every basic decency. Sometimes, I think whether the 200 years of scientific growth and all such movements in the world were at all valid. If standing in the 21st century, we have not been able to raise civilization to its basic decency, what’s the meaning of this civilization.

Now, coming to another thing that is knowingly not considered a part of the debate. What would be the cost of the vaccine and whether the poor sections of the society will be able to afford it especially in African and some Asian countries? Well, we don't have a system or partial social initiatives being taken by the developed nations, so that we can ensure that the cost of the vaccine is kept within the reach of all. Think of the African nations, the nations grounded by poverty and malnutrition. Will they be able to afford it?

Every nation has given a huge stimulus to industries to fight this pandemic expecting these industries to keep up productivity and the economy of the country and ensure minimum joblessness during this time. What about the hand-to-mouth population who had no savings, who lived on their day’s earnings to feed their family?. Well, they perishing off and the rest somehow steering through the pandemic is ok with many. But it is not at all okay with the very concept of humanity.

Now, let's consider the role of WHO. Was it not required to integrate the researches going around the world and bringing to the table a solution at the earliest, rather than just apprising the world of the gravity of the situation?. There is no joint group of labs across the globe, directing efforts at integrating the researches.

We, in India, believe that real development is something soulful, not very materialistic though I believe soulfulness is a stage of materialist initiatives. But, at this point of time, humanity is standing at a position where we can neither be proud of the civilization we have created, nor of the scientific achievements, or our system.