COVID 19 PANDEMIC: AN OPPORTUNITY TO REDRESS THE NARRATIVE

Abstract

Humans learnt valuable lessons from the historical episodes of medical emergencies. Studies show that a well thought, collective effort to control disease spread can be very effective in societies. In developing countries such as Pakistan, a lot of time is wasted in propaganda about the diseases and deciding how to control disease spread because there is a lack of confidence among the masses upon governments’ narrative, mainly due to extreme religious sentiments and room for conspiracy theory that put people in a state of confusion that caused unnecessary delay in handling pandemic situation. To explore the reasons behind people’s delayed response in Covid-19 situation, the present study was carried out. The participants were also asked why, they think, people were reluctant to get vaccinated for Covid-19. Twenty professors from four public sector universities of Punjab were conveniently selected to be interviewed. This study surfaced interesting findings that highlighted the reasons, perceived by the participants, behind conspiracy theories and inaccurate understanding of religious teaching among the people and role of insufficient commitment from the religious personals and government authorities. The study also explored the phenomenon of conspiracy theories in COVID-19 perspective.