Abstract

In a middle-income resource-constrained country like India, which is home to approximately 1.4 billion people, the Covid-19 pandemic had varied impacts on various people. The people who were the worst hit were the rural unprivileged poor, and the semi-urban. The second wave of the pandemic hit the country and its people in and around February when people started to behave as if the pandemic was already dealt with. In this article, the authors have discussed the various aftermaths of the negligence and irresponsibility showcased by both the public and the Government. The most important and relevant factor contributing to a rising second wave was the low supply of vaccines and people adamant about not taking the vaccine due to the spread of harmful and irrelevant news. The authors discuss issues that cropped up due to low intake of vaccines in the initial stages while also casting light upon other relevant concerns like low vaccine supply, the Government’s failure to come up with a strong strategy for vaccine distributions, and the politics that led to increased prices of the vaccine, the unavailability of medical resources in the country, and the black marketing of available resources. As a result, these problems further exposed the plight of the poor and showed the widening gap between the rich and the poor, giving rise to discrimination. The authors have additionally also discussed various solutions highlighting the need for transparency of policies of Government, the necessity of clear communication between the Government and public, the importance of vaccination, the regulation of prices of medical resources during tough times, and other lucrative ideas that may help in better resource management and allocation thus helping to overcome the pandemic.

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