Herd Immunity: Some Ethnographic Snapshots from the Field

Chapter 2 Herd Immunity: Some Ethnographic Snapshots from the Field Akbar Hussain Professor, Department of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1 Introduction Disease is a physiological phenomenon which is inseparable from the social context. Today, along with the development of biomedical technologies, health is considered as an ongoing phenomenon that is controlled and managed by institutional arrangement such as hospitals, physicians, nursing, medication, etc. One’s health behavior is associated with and ‘responsive to cultural context’ (Barrera, et.al 2013). It is a ‘top-down approach’ of health and disease prevention (Hussain 2019). This paper attempt to explain that COVID 19 has been combatted by its carriers through a combination of medication, familial support, community-based practices, and mental strength which could be seen from the ‘bottom-up approach’ (Hussain 2010, 2019). In this context, several themes and ideas exist in the area of social sciences, and public health literature such as contextual and diversified meaning of medication, treatment procedures and health management (Smith and Vonthethoff, 2017, Anderson and May 1979, Glanz, et.al., 2008), community health and welfare (McMurray, 2003), healthcare facilities and human capabilities (Sen 2020, Venkatapuram, 2020), etc. Moreover, scholars emphasize on the adaptive strategy of patients with family and community support (Chibwana, et,al., 2008, Adam 2020), role of medical institutions, public and private healthcare facilities (Weiner, et.al., 2004), state and social organization in health management (Hunter and Berman 1997, Filho, 2019), health-seeking activities (Latour, 2005, Poortaghi, et.al.; 2015, Adam 2020), health seeking behavior (Igun 1979, MacKian 2003), and national, local, and international health policies and their implementation (Bleich 2011, Coker, Atun and McKee 2004), etc. COVID 19 has affected most of the countries in the world and has infected more than 308 million people since its journey that started in December, 2019 in the Wuhan province of China. The virus has traveled round the world and has killed 5.5 million people till December 2021. At the same time, it is important to note that a total of 2 Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences 259 million people have recovered successfully and another 42 million are active cases (Worldmetesrinfo 2021). COVID 19 pandemic started in Bangladesh at the very beginning of March 2020. Potential lockdown was executed soon after that. Earlier, a gradual increase in the infection in the pandemic was observed that peaked in May. After a slight slowdown in the spread of the virus spreading, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) withdrew some particular restrictions. All public offices were opened along with limited activities in the educational institutions. The consequences of this withdrawal have been observed through the cases found at every corner of the country. The government did not declare any policy over ‘herd immunity’ however; the concept has become the central focus of debate among the policy makers, experts, and academics, as well as local and regional leaders and civil society. 2 Herd Immunity: Conceptual Framework Herd immunity is a natural condition that limits the spread of infectious diseases due to the encounters between the immune systems of the host and the pathogens. It is also termed as herd protection or population immunity (WHO 2021). If a significant number of the population in a society is no longer vulnerable, then any new outbreak of any pathogens usually would not take place. It is considered as a desirable result of the people's collective effort against any infectious disease. The public-health experts consider herd immunity as a tool to protect the mass population with vaccination, recovery from similar illness, and healthcare facilities. Herd immunity could be achieved through natural immunity, vaccination, and past experiences about the disease. The concept has been taken to the table by the political leaders rather than by the epidemiologist and health researchers. This idea was popped up among the policy makers, and politicians in many countries. The concept has been widely used to denote the relationship among the disease, the people, and the surrounding environment. Herd immunity is a complex concept which includes a greater combination of humans, pathogens (virus/ bacteria), human movement, and disease transmission. It is related to the people, their environmental surrounding, process of sharing the daily activities and confirming the maintenance of daily life in a particular ecological setting. The term; immunity; denotes the development of some particular elements in humans that can protect the body from external attack against pathogens. So, herd immunity is an obvious destination to survive. Today, human beings are considered as a significant host of millions of parasites. In a given ecological setting with hosting capabilities, the pathogens (parasites/virus/bacteria) find out the way to Herd Immunity live within a particular species. It creates the facilities through a reproductive and transmitting system that can adjust itself with possible genetic forms or transform itself in case of any change in the host community. Due to the modification in the structural system of the pathogens (which is called mutation), the host body becomes unable to detect, or, remove it from the body. It ensures the living condition of the pathogen in the host by reproducing and multiplying very quickly with an aim to increase its population. In this process, a definite reaction, or, revival activities can be created in the host body and then few symptoms of diseases are exposed if the immune system of the host loses the battle between the virus and the host. In this situation, viruses create a form of infectious disease and transmit from one host to another. Sometimes, this transfer and transmission process is limited to a single species. The consequence of this process is the common spread of the disease among that species. But, it also can happen that the pathogens are transmitting beyond the species category. It can intersect the boundaries of species and can attack different types of species. The pathogens find a new host as a new category. New access triggers to increase its population exponentially with a new typology and disease. Such a situation is created due to the lack of antigen (element for immunity) in the new host. A stronger immune system is expected when the host is the human being and the pathogens are the source of diseases, such as SARS-COV-2, or the Coronavirus. Humans live in a societal form, maintain association, interact with each other, and meet at a common place whether it is within the family or in the community. Thus, any exposure to the disease can affect the most connected people; then the community becomes vulnerable. The population group must achieve herd immunity to protect themselves from the disease; otherwise, it hampers the total system of the society. If the hosts allow pathogens to reach its course without vaccination, it becomes difficult to predict recovery period naturally through immunity. Even after considering the perfect achievement of herd immunity, there is a possibility to have a virus outbreak at any time. It happens very often in a society where the vaccination rate is very low. There are different types of understandings about the vaccines regarding availability, cost, strength of the vaccine, durability of protection, vaccine administer. Herd immunity takes place on the basis of best health-seeking behavior and healthcare services. There is no guarantee that it will work for everybody and in all conditions. The basic limitation of herd immunity is that people need to be concerned about the disease, and take care of themselves, including their family members and community. Herd immunity does not guarantee a person 4 Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences to be immunized and protected forever. It is assumed that herd immunity could be expected after the majority of the population has been vaccinated. 3 Objectives and the Methodological Considerations On the above-mentioned background, this paper explores the concept of ‘the herd immunity in Bangladesh perspective in COVID 19 pandemic context, in particular, the perception about ‘herd immunity’, the pattern of mass involvement to achieve herd immunity, and its relevancy to policy issues. This paper is based on a particular ethnographic field research. The fieldwork was conducted among the dwellers of Dhaka City and two other areas. The localities are Uttara, (Sector 3, and Sector 10), Adabor and Middle Badda in the Dhaka City, Narayangonj City (Sadar), and a remote district - Bhola (Pouroshava). Data was gathered from 12 respondents through Key Informant Technique in addition to in-depth interviews and case studies. Respondents were selected randomly as well as purposively taking into consideration the requirements for the research. A total of 12 in-depth interviews have been conducted with the respondents from different of several backgrounds and professions. Most of the interviews were conducted through telephone and virtual platforms. The information was mostly qualitative in nature. Among the 12 respondents, there were 9 males and 3 females. They were categorized into two age groups; one comprising aged between 31 and 50, while the other comprising the people aged between 51 and 70. Six respondents belong to the first group and the other six are in the second category. Respondents’ occupations are much diversified. Each of them has got a separate occupation. Among the female respondents, Begum (53) is senior personnel in a nongovernmental organization; Neela (45) is a banker. Two of them have graduated from university. Muslima (32) is a housewife/homemaker who completed her secondary level of education. From the locational perspective, it can be said that the three female respondents are in three separate localities in Dhaka. Among the male respondents, each 2 are from Savar, Adabor and Badda and each one from Bhola, Narayangonj and Uttara. In terms of education, it can be mentioned that 6 respondents has got a Master’s degree, 1 has Higher Secondary Certificate and two others did not complete their primary education. It appears that nine respondents are from nine different professions or occupations such as one government serviceman (Siddiqui, 46), one political leader and representative of the local government (Ahmed, 69), one physician (Gazi, 66), a teacher at a college (Jahan, 57), and one working in a secondary school (Matin, 38), a lawyer (Kamal 42), a Herd Immunity wholesale businessman (Manik, 46), one construction contractor (Abul, 52) and a van-puller-cum-laborer (Kasim 52). Among the respondents, four has the experiences of suffering from COVID. Two of them suffered in 2020 (Manik and Matin) and two in 2021 (Gazi and Neela). The other 4 respondents faced the challenge of their family members who were affected and were later recovered (spouse of Ahmed, Jahan, and Muslima, and parent of Siddiqui). The close relatives of all the 12 respondents were suffered from COVID and while five of these patients lost their lives (Ahmed, Begum, Siddiqui, Manik, and Kasim) and others were recovered successfully. The rationality behimd the act of choosing them as respondents was to understand the insights of their narratives and views from an emic perspective, learning from their role as sufferers and caregivers, policy makers, and front liners. The government service holder (in charge of an administrative district), a political leader (representative of the local government at the Upazilla level) and a physician had direct involvement in the policy issues, execution and front-line management of the COVID. The NGO official and the Banker had to work at their workplaces throughout the COVID period. The teachers and Lawyers worked on the virtual platform. The businessman, contractor of laborers, and the laborers worked to cover their daily hunger. Most of the respondents were directly involved with the people affected by the COVID. Thus, their understanding of herd immunity and further survival strategies are considered very important. 4 Perception about Herd immunity and the Problems of Top-down Policy Approach From the administrator's perspective, it was observed that the government has no particular direction though it tried to administer vaccines and execute lockdown or shut down to confirm people’s safety in this pandemic. The administration as well as the leaders of the ruling political party emphasized on their roles and gave credit to the government for tackling the situation well. A district administrator (Siddiqui, 46) explains thus, ‘the target of the government was to keep the rate of increase at 0% and provide better treatment to those who are affected. The national policy targeted to keep the death rate as minimum as possible’. A political leader (Ahmed, 69) discloses, ‘the best way is to follow the order of the state in the pandemic. The government is giving a lot of money as incentives and compensation due to the pandemic’. In the case of hard immunity, the approach of the politicians and administrative officials is mostly top-down in nature. 6 Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences People should stay at home when there is an order for doing so. People should close their shops and stop the business when the government enhances shutdown. Further, people should stop moving if the government stops transportation. As Ahmed (69) mentions, ‘the government allocated interestfree loans for the businessmen, cash incentives for the workers, food for the poor and help to the vulnerable women. Even the government is providing honorariums to widows and age-old women’. In many areas, according to local news media, the members of the local government are found to be guilty for hiding and stealing the relief goods. However, Ahmed denied any kind of embezzlement of the relief goods and cash money and its’ distribution in his locality. They argued that the local government and the representatives are trying their best to control the situation and that they are reaching the poor and every family in the remote areas. Both the respondents said, ‘the administration is always trying to do a round-the-clock duty to the needy people. We gave food to the people who called us at around 1 or 2 am, even at 3 to 4 am at night or early morning’. The government has got no particular plan to execute any rules for achieving herd immunity. Gazi (66), a physician and frontrunner, emphasizes that every policy-making mechanism should include experts from multiple disciplines to clarify the situation from different perspectives and taking measures accordingly. Policy makers have been are unable to formulate proper policy in healthcare service during the pandemic due to the lack of understanding. He adds, ‘the number of healthcare professionals is not enough to provide treatment to the people. In such a situation, every member of the society should extend hands to help each other so that the pressure on the healthcare system could be minimized’. A senior personnel of a non-governmental organization (NGO), Begum (53), claims that the country is in a dilemma of policies in providing proper treatment, reducing the spread of the disease, and a proper policy to make the vaccine available. She emphasizes on the commoners’ consciousness about the prevention of the disease, caring coronavirus patients, understanding rights and obligations, helping each other in the family, community, and locality. In this context, a lawyer, Kamal (42) claims that, ‘the citizens’ rights have been violated severely in the pandemic by not providing proper information, guideline and treatment by the government’. A similar reality is observed by people from different corners of the society. The commoners interpret concepts such as lockdown, shutdown, social distancing, etc. according to their own viewpoint. Begum (53) expresses her anxiety about the poor healthcare system and lack of professionalism in the hospitals and Herd Immunity clinics of the country. Her organization works independently and has donated a lot of protective equipment as well as trained many people to serve the affected areas. She has pointed out that, ‘the equipment given to the administration was not distributed properly. The officials, their family members and relatives got it prior to the healthcare workers such as physicians, nurses, and health assistants’. Gazi (66) and Begum (53) have got some common opinions about the herd immunity- ‘a natural process will happen gradually and herd immunity cannot be achieved in a day’. Similarly, it is true that the spread or the course of the coronavirus has not come to an end yet or might not be for a very short period. In that case, a significant number of people will be affected, and, they will recover gradually. It is difficult to say that everybody will recover. It depends on the health condition and the degree of infection. So, they think herd immunity will not be the final answer because one might be affected, based on one’s health condition, age, and surroundings. Regarding the education sector, it can be said that the most frustrating condition has taken place in the government’s decisionmaking process. Jahan (57) expresses his frustration by saying that, ‘Bangladesh has observed the longest closing of the educational institutions in the world since March 18, 2020’. He explains that herd immunity is a multifaceted concept. To formulate policy to reach the level of herd immunity, a secondary school teacher, (Matin, 38) emphasizes on the people's controlled behavior and limited movement within the area. He opines, ‘if people take risks to achieve herd immunity forcefully or very quickly, that could be harmful to the society. Herd immunity is a concept that works very slowly and it takes time to cover everyone. Herd immunity cannot be achieved in a day or in a month. It will take many years; people have to obey and maintain the guideline given by the health department of the country as well as they have to keep watch on their community and locality’. Jahan (57) has criticized the government’s policy of lockdown and shutdown in different phases because of its lack of understanding people’s condition, on the one hand, and government intention to provide facilities to the businessmen and elites, on the other. At this point, he comments that ‘when there were annual ceremonies, the government should consider the time for executing the lockdown and how the transportation system will be managed for one’s traveling to the rural areas. They want to go to their family and visit them’. He has pointed out that a very clear intention of the government has been understood by the sudden lockdown. However, the government did not think much of the pattern of movement from the capital city to the local area. The government closed the transports, which gave another 8 Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences opportunity to the private vehicle owners for renting their cars, microbuses, pick-ups, buses, motorbikes and trucks for carrying the passengers from the cities to the rural areas. Only the inter-district bus communication was suspended. That is why; people found an alternative way to move from the Dhaka city. This became a question regarding the governments’ intention, which is related much to policymaking. The question of herd immunity became a valid point in this context. The government wanted people to go for herd immunity by taking risks of being affected during the time of their travel. Motin (38), a private school teacher, has observed and experienced the closing of the educational institution for 18 months. He has learned a lot of lessons about digitalizing in the education system, which definitely helped him to be oriented to the modern technology and digital form of teaching. He considers the closing of the educational institutions as a good decision to protect the children from coronavirus. At the same time, he is frustrated about the lingering time to regarding opening of the schools. He thinks that the student’s performances, quality, and mental ability regarding education have been lost because of the long vacation in the educational institutions. It will be difficult for the students to return to the study attentively and to get a good pace in their process of learning. He observes, ‘there could be an alternative way that students would take assignments and educational materials from the school in the pandemic and that they would do their homework at home and submit it properly online or on the virtual platform. They would present their study on the virtual platform since the beginning of the pandemic. I appreciate the starting of this digitalization because it will help us to understand what to do in the future in any kind of natural disaster. Both teaching and learning can be enacted online and that the virtual platforms will be used for education’. 5 Perspectives of the Occupational Groups Neela (45) has been working in a bank for the last 17 years but she received a different experience during the time of the pandemic. Her duties have not been reduced at all; rather, she has to go to the bank and face challenges to keep herself healthy and other members of her family. She has expressed her feelings thus, ‘the pandemic gave new teaching of life that I never thought of in the last 17 years. It is not only a person who is affected by the pandemic, rather a family, community, and members of the society who faced the challenges in the pandemic. The herd immunity was a natural process that has already been executed among the people who had to go out of the house for Herd Immunity their livelihood and daily activities. Everyday people visit the bank; very few of them obey the guideline and rules of the government’. A different understanding has been obtained by a businessman named Manik (46). He is the owner of a wholesale business in a renowned shopping mall in the city where he has to follow the guideline of the government to confirm that his business will be run systematically. Since the beginning of the pandemic, shopping malls remained closed for a long time. His sales decreased at a significant level (more than 50%). He became unable to pay the full salary of his employees from the earnings of the business. Six months later, he reduced half of his manpower in the business. He said, ‘The visitors of our shop always believe that they will not be affected by the current coronavirus. Their understanding, belief, and values were that they are staying at home, working within the surroundings and are connected only with the people they know. They do not have any chance to spread the coronavirus by any means’. On the other hand, the government announced some incentives for the business to recover the loss. But, he did not get any such thing. In the case of herd immunity, he has expressed that when people are not aware of it, anybody could be affected by anyone consciously or unconsciously. His hope is that the known or unknown process will confirm herd immunity in the locality. To consider the reality of herd immunity, two educators and respondents, Jahan and Matin have emphasized the family structure of the country. They are of the opinion that, ‘only children are considered to stay home always. The family members are going out. They have definite interaction with the children after coming back.’ They further added, ‘ in any locality, children do not want to stay at home for 24 hours a day and seven days a week, rather, they are going out to relatives’ houses, playing outside, and interact with the other children of the same locality. So, they have interaction with other children’. 6 Perspectives 0f the Poor The financial inability of the treatment pushed the poor towards natural herd immunity, besides vaccination. Their common argument is that the poor are the less affected group among the patients of coronavirus. The poor gain natural immunity as a consequence of their lifestyle and quality of life that derived from poverty, poor health and hygiene. Three respondents from the poor (Abul, Kasim and Muslima) explained the herd immunity differently. Abul (52) is a construction contractor working in Badda for more than 35 years. He supervises more than 10-20 laborers in a community. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March, 2020, he was afraid of his future in the construction industry because many of 10 Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences the construction sites were temporarily closed. He explains the situation thus, ‘the laborers were anxious about their earnings, future as well as about the disease created by coronavirus. After the declaration of the lockdown, the construction sites were closed. For the first few days, they had no work. Later, I started to send laborers to work for few hours a day during the lockdown. My laborers and I took the risk of being affected by the virus. After few days, I assessed the situation and found an alternative way to send laborers in the private construction sites where they can work separately, for example, 2 to 3 laborers in a site. I set the laborers into groups so that they could work together maintaining social distancing’. He comments about the government’s program thus the policy can be executed after thinking about the economic facilities and people's livelihood. Without these, it is difficult to maintain families of the laborers at home because their earnings are not too high and they live from hand to mouth. If a laborer stops working for 7 days consecutively, then it will be difficult for him to earn money for the family. That is why; avoiding lockdown and other problems is a reality. He emphasizes the continuation of work - fully or partially. Similar to Abul, a laborer and van puller, named Kasim (52) considers the situation from his own lifestyle. He considers orders (goods) from sellers and delivers those to the buyers. He covers more than 10 services a day. To him, ‘hunger is the stronger catalyst for me and my family than the coronavirus and another infectious disease’. He claims that every day he goes to at least 10 shops and goes to 10 to 20 houses for delivery purposes, which means that he is to exposed to more than 30 or 40 houses per day. It is very difficult for him to follow the health guideline as his work is to supply goods to many houses where people are not aware of the health instruction and coronavirus. He believes, ‘still I am healthy because of the creator; otherwise, it would be difficult for me to live after interaction with a lot of people every day and everywhere. I have no chance to stay at home and have to expose to the people of various communities, levels, and statuses’. He has been working for the last one year and 6 months. He assumes that if there is herd immunity, or, a stronger immune system, it has taken place in the meantime. He adds, ‘I am not worried about the immunity because I am confident about the immunity I have. Herd immunity is very common among the poor, and, coronavirus is reduced in last eighteen six months; which means herd immunity is working’. Different from two other respondents, Muslima (32) expresses her positive view towards herd immunity. She dreams of a faster pace of herd immunity. She is a housewife living in a locality of Dhaka city with her husband and two children. Her husband works in a private Herd Immunity company and receives a medium-range salary (30 thousand taka per month). They were happy with the salary. This happiness continued till the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. During the time of first two months of the pandemic, the company paid him the full salary. Thereafter, the company lay off 20% of their employees and lowered the salary of the other 40% of the employees. The company kept his job but lowered his salary by around 25%, which definitely pressurized the familial income and expenditures. Finally, her family received a discount on house rent of around 20%. Though she was happy about the rent, another problem was appeared eventually. Prices of the daily household necessities such as food, clothes, medicines, and stationaries increased. They thus faced a terrible financial crisis. She discloses, ‘herd immunity would be better for the poor families to save the family because we do not have enough money to get treatment. Thus, we hope for no restriction on the frequent moves to the workplace. Relatives can visit us and move around. Children can play in open space and will remain socially, mentally and physically healthy. If herd immunity becomes real, we will be the beneficiary of this’. The poor think that the government should take care of the total system and that they can obey the guideline as declared. They can think about it until managing their families. However, families with lower economic status are facing more challenges. They have no way to go out; so, they must sell their labor or become street vendors, hawkers, and/or sell other products on the street to earn money for their family. The lockdown system can be meaningful regarding health, but it is difficult to earn the economic prosperity by the poor. Each of the heads is responsible for providing food, healthcare of the family members, cost for the education of the children, and maintain quality of life through daily expenditure. Thus, as early as the herd immunity will be executed, it will be helpful for them. 7 The Common Ground The respondents gave examples that after act of taking the two-dose vaccine successfully, a significant number of health professionals are affected by the coronavirus and many of them lost their lives. If their immunity is taken into consideration, they should be placed in the group of herd immunity. But the formula did not work for them. That is why herd immunity is not the final answer. It will help people not to be infected in the minor cases. If someone exposed to viruses frequently, then there is the indication of malfunctioning of herd immunity. Thus healthcare facilities will be under pressure. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it was observed that a significant number of the rich people lost their lives and that numerous 12 Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences people were infected due to coronavirus because of the lack of a stronger immune system. An insignificant number of slum-dwellers are affected from the coronavirus. Their everyday hygienic system is very poor, which gave them a different pattern of immunity that is active against any disease. They do not get pure water for drinking. They live in unhygienic houses in dirty places. They shower themselves in the river or lake water, cook their food with ordinary tape water, and drink water here and there, and eat street food on a very poor hygienic condition. Frequent trolls have been observed regarding the slum dwellers’ suffering from the pandemic in comparison to those of the rich and posh areas of the city. While explaining based upon those observations, respondents admitted that the poor will not be affected by the coronavirus. They are stronger against viruses and they do not care about the spread of the virus. They work every day, go everywhere, though they do not maintain a healthy life and follow the guideline given by the government. They do not hesitate to travel any place, anywhere, anytime, and still they are confident about their survival. Four respondents (Abul, Manik, Neela and Kasim) have disclosed that it is better to know what is going on and who is affected and who is not. An important point here is that if there are asymptomatic patterns of coronavirus, then it is difficult for the general people to find out the affected persons. Secondly, there are some seasonal cold and fever tendencies among the local population, which are mistakenly termed as the coronavirus. Thirdly, there is no contact tracing; so, nobody will understand where it comes from and how it spreads among others. Herd immunity will be an automatic or a general-natural process that the local people will achieve naturally. Most of the inhabitants are either vaccinated or recovered from the coronavirus. Then the area will be a safer zone for all. Finally, they believe that it is the divine decision as to that how the people will be affected and how much they will suffer by the coronavirus and who will lose at what level. They think also that many people were affected after staying at home and not going to any place ever. They think that this disease is a mysterious one; nobody knows who will get in what way, how much one will suffer, or, recover, or, lose his/her life. Finally, their opinion is that herd immunity is a natural process and the society will go through it and that one day they will overcome this problem. 8 Conclusion This paper concludes by saying that the respondents had never been experienced herd immunity in their life or even they did not hear about it. They understand that many of the problems have been Herd Immunity overcome by the vaccination and appropriate immune system of the human body. Before achieving herd immunity through natural process, it must go through vaccination by the healthcare system. The respondents believe that herd immunity will not be executed free of cost. It will take the lives of many people including the aged, adults, youths, and children. It will hamper the social life of professionals and politicians, as well as the commoners, families, and the community. The vaccination process will take a long time to cover the total population, but the viruses desperately attack humans one after another and spread very quickly. It affects children to elders, irrespective of their status, social positions, economic conditions, roles in the society, and the places they live. The country has to carry the havoc if they wait for herd immunity through a natural process. They have suggested the government to take necessary steps for achieving herd immunity by administering vaccines and other healthcare measures. Coronavirus spread very quickly and the government had to respond at the same pace. The insufficient facilities in the healthcare sector have forced the government to close the educational institutions, transports, and public and non-governmental offices. The government has taken certain policies and executed in the last two years. Experts were concerned about those policies and pointed-out errors in the policy mechanism. They observed the lack of understanding about the mainstream socio-cultural values and people's necessity to keep their life ongoing. That is why; the government policy has been criticized seriously by the different corners of society. It has been observed that the government’s policy was a trickle-down myth, i.e.; from top to down. The policy makers never hear anything from the experts or from the people coming from different corners. That is why; an understandable gap has appeared between the policy and its execution. The government reopened garments industries for production and permitted international trade, but shut down other businesses like small and medium Industries, shopping centres, and wholesale and retail shops. The contradiction was visible in the country in the context of the policy execution by the government and its different departments. Since March, 2020, there was no sequence and link of the government policies to tackle the situation. On the other hand, this situation pushed the country towards natural herd immunity, which was not expected by the respondents. Their hunch is that if the country moves towards natural herd immunity, it will cost peoples’ lives. Nobody knows as to who will lose life or which families will be structurally damaged. 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