Denied Covid vaccine, US citizen decides to get back to homeland

 Nine months ago, he had approached the Kerala High Court expressing his wish to stay in the state and spend the rest of his life in the country.
Johnny Paul Pierce
Johnny Paul Pierce

KOCHI: Nine months ago, he had approached the Kerala High Court expressing his wish to stay in the state and spend the rest of his life in the country. But now US citizen Johnny Paul Pierce, 75, is desperate to return to his homeland. The denial of Covid vaccine citing his foreign roots has forced Pierce to change his decision.It was the rapid spread of the pandemic in the US that prompted him to settle down in Kerala where the number of Covid cases and the case fatality rate were low. But the situation has changed and Kerala has 3.23 lakh active cases now compared to 2,411 on July 7, 2020 when he approached the High Court seeking permission to stay in the state. The death toll climbed from 27 to 5,356 on Saturday.

“I have to go back to the US because the Indian government won’t give me Covid vaccine as I am a foreigner,” Pierce told TNIE. But he still loves Kerala and the country. “The people in Kerala are wonderful and I will miss India greatly,” he said.Pierce hit the headlines when he approached the High Court during lockdown seeking a directive to the Centre to permit him to apply for conversion of his tourist visa into a business visa without leaving the country.

He had come to India on February 26 last year on a tourist visa, which is valid up to January 26, 2025. This is his fifth visit to India as a tourist. The guidelines of the Indian government permit continuous stay for only 180 days for foreigners on tourist visa. But due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, the India government allowed him to continue his stay in the country. But the High Court had rejected his plea to change the visa. 

Peirce to board Doha flight tomorrow

Pierce has been staying at Vagamon since August 2020. He bought a car to drive himself to the market and hospital during the Covid time. An Indian friend helped him open a bank account  and got him a phone and changed the ownership of the car in his name because he can’t do that on a tourist visa. “I live on a hilltop with the closest neighbours a five-minute walk away. There are only two houses on my street, so I stay isolated. This district is sparsely populated and has low Covid cases,” he said.

Adding to the woes, he was diagnosed with cancer in March. “I wanted to stay because I learned I have prostate cancer and wanted treatment at a private hospital in Kottayam. But I don’t feel safe going to hospital five times a week for treatment without Covid vaccination,” he said.  Peirce’s hopes of getting vaccinated vanished as he is a foreign national and does not possess a valid identity card or Aadhaar card.“I contacted three private hospitals for vaccination so that I can start cancer treatment here. The hospital authorities contacted the health officials who replied that the vaccine is only for Indians,” Pierce said. He will board a Qatar Air flight from Kochi airport to Doha on Monday.

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