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With more than 66% of Syracuse University students fully vaccinated, SU is rapidly approaching the time when every member of our community will be better protected from COVID-19. This is not the reality for some other places around the world. 

Now that so many students, faculty and staff are vaccinated due to high vaccine availability in New York state, it’s time we focus on other nations that don’t have the same resources and infrastructure the U.S. does.

Not every government is able to achieve national vaccine accessibility. India’s medical infrastructure is in critical condition. Vaccine distribution is moving slowly in India, and only 3% of the population is fully vaccinated. Hospitals are running out of beds and oxygen. The increasing death toll forces families of the deceased to change cremation rituals, a tradition important to Indians that practice Hinduism. 

Every single person should care about the crisis in India right now. India does not have the resources or infrastructure to combat the second wave of the virus. 

SU has many professors, staff and international students who are from India. While many students and professors in the U.S. no longer have to worry about whether friends and family will receive the vaccine, many of our peers from India are concerned about the safety of their loved ones. We have to remind ourselves of the privileges that come with living in a country that has the resources to accommodate the pandemic.  

One thing we can do right now is support Indians affected by the pandemic. Check in on your friends who have loved ones in India. Donate to organizations like Project HOPE or Khalsa Aid International that provide aid to people in India. Educate yourself on crises like this even if they don’t directly affect you.

Remember that viruses don’t know what borders are. We have the privilege of living somewhere where vaccines are widely available, where we have the ability to social distance and where we have adequate medical infrastructure. We should also pay attention to other parts of the world who do not have this privilege. 

For those who are not concerned about the pandemic’s effect on India simply because the country is geographically far from Syracuse, know that it still has an impact on people at SU.

Polina Plitchenko is a junior psychology major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at pplitche@syr.edu.

Published on May 11, 2021 at 10:44 pm