Any person who refuses to be vaccinated must be arrested: we were too reckless with HIV (Opinion)

NaijacampusjamsJan 24, 2021Read original

The history of HIV/AIDs pandemic is well documented: so there’s no need for one to reiterate what many people have already documented. It is fairly known that many people died in South Africa because of HIV/AIDs. And one of the reasons why many people who were infected with HIV/AIDs died in their numbers, in 2004 was because the government did not act swiftly to get the ARVs. The government officials at the time, debated about the procurement of ARVs for long; and when they finally stopped debating; many people had already lost their lives. To some extent, the evidence tend to suggest the government at time acted recklessly, however, in time; they managed to rectify the wrong decisions they took prior to procuring ARVs from manufacturing companies.

Now the question is: will history repeat itself? will what happened during Aids pandemic happen now under corona virus pandemic?

Well, it is fairly difficult to answer the questions outrightly, because there are so many factors that one needs to factor them, before answering those questions. One of the first thing that one needs to point out, is that Corona Virus pandemic is completely different from the HIV/AIDs pandemic. Although, HIV/AIDs pandemic disrupted many people’s livelihoods before it can be brought under control: when compared to the corona virus pandemic, HIV/AIDs seem to have done less damage, because coronavirus pandemic change the world order. What was improbable many years ago, became probable under corona virus pandemic.

Corona Virus hit South African shore somewhere around March 2020; and ever since that day, things have never been the same again in South Africa. People have lost their jobs; and some people are still being laid off, because the impact of Corona Virus pandemic in most of South African companies.

Admittedly, South Africa is Democratic state: and in democratically run state, people are afforded certain human rights. Unlike in a totalitarian state where people are told what to do. But sometimes a democracy cannot help countries solve soms problems; and leaders needs to act boldly to save people’slives.

As already alluded above, the government acted slow in the HIV/AIDs pandemic, so now they cannot let what happened in back then, happen again in 2020.

Where the vaccine for the Corona Virus finally arrive in South Africa, the government should make it mandatory for all South Africans to take the vaccine: and any person who refuses to be vaccinated must be arrested. The world needs to go back to normal; and the world cannot be stopped by people who refuses to be vaccinated.