It’s ridiculous that India is being asked to worry about unvaccinated children when there are other issues to focus on
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I am always appalled whenever a foreign government, publication, or person casts aspersion on India’s commitment to the well-being of its citizens. This tends to happen all the time, of course, which is why I find myself in a state of constant anger, ready to inform anyone willing to listen that the Indian government spends every waking moment worrying about how to make the lives of its citizens better. It may be impossible to back this statement with proof, but I insist on standing by it.
In all honesty, I also shout this out often because one can’t be too careful these days. If someone, somewhere, suspects one of not loving India enough, there’s no telling where that story may end. Some Indians find themselves in jail without trial for years, I’m told, and don’t get parole unless they are godmen convicted of rape. So, just to err on the side of caution, I wear my patriotism on my sleeve at all hours.
What angered me this time was a report published by a medical journal called The Lancet. I know it’s one of the oldest, most respected publications around, but I had to take issue with what it said about vaccines. According to the report in question, as of 2023, India was one among eight countries where more than half the unvaccinated children from around the world lived. The report went on to highlight what it called ‘persistent inequities’ regarding access to medical care.
My first reaction was to denounce The Lancet as a piece of propaganda paid for by our increasing number of enemies. I watched national news channels feverishly, waiting for anchors to denounce this in strong terms, but they were busy attacking a man from New York who was running for mayor, so I was forced to accept that my anger was misplaced. When I had calmed down, I realised I had failed to adopt official government policy when it came to reports like these: ‘Ignore, Until It All Just Goes Away.’
Returning to the report, I saw that there were facts and figures provided to back the extraordinary claims being made. Of 15.7 million children who had received no doses of diphtheria and tetanus vaccines in their first year, 1.44 million were allegedly from India. The other countries on that list were Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia, and Brazil. That’s when I suspected that someone at The Lancet must have made an error. How could India find its name alongside those countries, given how we are hurtling towards becoming one of the world’s most powerful nations? Did no one look at our GDP or how fast our economy is growing?
One of the problems with reports like these is a lack of understanding about priorities. Sure, it’s possible that children aren’t being vaccinated when they need to, but is that really something a country should focus on when there are other unresolved issues that aren’t getting the attention they deserve? Before focusing on children, shouldn’t we sort out problems related to language, religion, and dress codes first? These are the things that form the fabric of our society today, not whether a child may or may not get tetanus.
Anyone who works in accounts will agree that money management is tricky. If one only has a few thousand crores per year, with which one has to make sure cities are renamed correctly, heritage sites are renovated to look more modern, and full-page advertisements are to be published in all newspapers to announce the rebranding of existing schemes, there isn’t much left for pothole-free roads or vaccines. It is only when we all start to pull together in the right direction and realise that public relations is the only thing that can improve our standing in the world, that we will stop being distracted by journals asking ridiculous questions about healthcare, hygiene, or malnutrition.
Luckily for us, we finally have a government that knows how taxpayer money ought to be spent. For instance, Rs 2532 crore was spent on the promotion of Sanskrit between 2014-15 and 2024-25, and if The Lancet doesn’t think that’s a better use of funds than making sure children are vaccinated, we should reject that publication entirely. I’m pretty sure we can start publishing our own medical journals from now on, with information written and vetted by our ministers. After all, it’s what so many newspapers have done in recent years, and I don’t hear any complaints.
When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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