Cheaper than multiplex and popcorn

• Follow

There is magic in the word ‘free’ as all marketers would testify. Whenever freebies are offered with any product or service, sales rise and drop then they are withdrawn. The love for anything free is so deep that many, even those who can afford, would not hesitate to wait for free medicines even if such wait can cause havoc including causing life-threatening situations. This is what the experience of many private hospitals around the country indicates.

According to reports, even in the country’s capital, where a lot of people can pay for their own vaccines and don’t need to depend on the public exchequer, the number of paid shots has gone down from 4,856 per day in July 2,212 in September. In all cities there are examples of middle-class people, who even visit multiplexes for entertainment, waiting for free vaccines at state-run camps where it is offered for free.

While it raises questions about spending priorities, it also keeps those waiting for the free jab to possibilities of catching the infection. It is all the more confounding since expert medic bodies have been holding out the apprehension of a third wave as an imminent possibility. Those who can afford the vaccine should immediately take it by paying for it. They would not only spare precious resources of the public exchequer but would also shield themselves and their near and dear ones from the deadly virus. At any rate, the jab would help minimising the impact of the infection.

Apart from paying for their own vaccines, a lot of middle-class citizens have also paid for the vaccines administered to their domestic helps and drivers. They should be the model to follow. When it boils down to a question of life and death, or horrible sufferings at a minimum, saving a few rupees on a possible shield is sheer stupidity. After all a jab costs less than the combined price of a ticket at a multiplex and a banal tub of uninspiring popcorn.