The Taliban knows how to survive without reliance on the system. The city slickers are the ones the most adamant about masks and vaccines because they have no capability or freedom to survive if they were to get fired or ostracized from their work. Most everyone has to follow someone else's orders coming down the chain of command despite how ridiculous and outlandish they are. Even people who quit will eventually have to find work that's most likely working under someone in the system. Covid is a systematic error. The further away people "advance" from the hunter-gatherer society and closer to the technocracy, they can't just drop everything and walk away if they don't feel like following orders. Most people are so hopelessly dependent on the system that they'll willingly give up their freedom instead of voluntarily becoming broke and poor.