I was called a Covidiot: Rahul Dev opens up about flak he received for posting vaccination pic without the mask

Actror Rahul Dev hopes that the doctors and nurses are being compensated well given the services that they have been doing since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Covid-19 vaccination drive is going on in full swing in the country and many celebrities have been posting pictures and videos of them taking the jab. Actor Rahul Dev took the first dose of vaccine in March, in Delhi, and recently got his second jab, too.

Rahul Dev has received the first dose of vaccine. (Photo by Pramod Thakur / Hindustan Times))

Talking about his experience, he says, “When I got the first shot, the doctors had requested me to take my mask off for a picture. It was a quick and emotional decision without rationality. I just thought that they’re vaccinating me and what should I have said that, ‘No, I’ll not take off my mask.’ I got a lot of flak on social media for it. Some even called me a Covidiot.”

The 52-year-old says his heart goes out to see the plight of doctors in these testing times.

“The last few weeks, all we’re seeing is that so many doctors have broken down. I’ve seen confessional videos of doctors saying, ‘We don’t have oxygen and patients ko jhooth bolke thak gaye hai’,” Dev shares.

The actor hopes that the medical personnel are being compensated well given the services that they’ve been doing since the outbreak of the pandemic.

“The pay scale of doctors is something that I want to talk about. I hope they can get paid much better. The hospitals aren’t running into losses, they’re making money, isn’t it? I’d like to see them getting more money for the service that they’ve been providing in the past year, especially when your organisation is doing better,” he stresses.

Amid all this, Dev is also trying to do his bit and help as many people as possible on a regular basis. But he admits that despite being a celebrity, sometimes he, too, is helpless.

“I keep on getting messages. Every 10 minutes I get call for help or a message on social media. Sometimes you can help, sometimes you cannot. If you cannot help, then that’s not okay, but what can you do? I recently requested for a bed in Delhi for someone who was looking, and I was told, ‘Room toh nahi chahiye na’. People are saying that celebs are getting special treatment, but it’s not like that. Even we’re struggling to get hospital beds for people in need,” he laments.