INDIA’S VACCINE DIPLOMACY

- Deepjyoti Barman

India’s drive to provide countries with the COVID-19 vaccine or popularly known as Vaccine
Maitri (Vaccine Friendship) has evoked a positive response globally. Neighbouring governments,
like Nepal which has been wrangling with India in recent months, have expressed gratitude while
others like the U.S. applauded India’s gesture.

India’s gesture of sharing its vaccine supplies with other countries stands in sharp contrast to
several rich countries that are cornering and hoarding vaccine supplies as we believe in
'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (the world is one family), Although a handful of rich countries
account for just 16 per cent of the world’s population, they have already cornered 60 per cent of
the vaccines bought globally. Thus, India’s Vaccine Maitri initiative will help ease to some extent
the ”vaccine inequality” in the world by making COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to
developing countries.

India faces a delicate task in ‘vaccine diplomacy’, of balancing domestic requirement for
Coronavirus vaccine with growing demand worldwide for the same. In consonance with the
“Neighborhood First” initiative, the first consignments of the Covishield vaccine which is
developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of
India and Covaxin, a locally developed and manufactured vaccine by Bharat Biotech and the
Indian Council of Medical Research, have gone to its immediate neighbours, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, and Nepal, and key Indian Ocean partners, Mauritius and
Seychelles. India has also set in motion the commercial supply of vaccines to several countries,
including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, and Morocco.
India has displayed empathy for poor countries’ needs and has taken the position that a
significant percentage of the approved doses will be permitted for exports. While its exports to
neighbouring counties will be under grant mode, the initial shipment of vaccines to the least
developed countries will be free of cost. This reinforces the need for having coordinated global
efforts in bringing COVID-19 under control which consolidated India’s name as the world’s
pharmacy. In fact, India is one of the largest manufacturers of vaccines in the world; it supplies
around 60 per cent of the global requirement of DPT, BCG, and measles vaccines. Indian
vaccines have shown fewer side-effects, cost less and easier to store and transport. Vaccine
Maitri will add further credibility as a reliable vaccine producer.

Importance of India’s Vaccine Diplomacy:

1) Countering China:- India’s vaccine diplomacy puts it in direct competition with

China—which has made no secret that vaccine distribution is wrapped up in its broader
geopolitical ambitions. It has enhanced the Soft Power of India and generated goodwill
among these developing & least developed countries helping to dispel the perception
amongst the neighbourhood that India is hegemonic and a “Big Brother”. Instead, it
shows that India is a “Responsible Power”. Importantly, it will serve as a powerful soft
power tool to counter China’s considerable influence in South Asia, Africa and
elsewhere. Further, it will enable India to erode Chinese influence in South Asia and
battle out a serious public health crisis. Early shipment from India in these countries
could help counter China’s vaccine and mask diplomacy in its neighbourhood. The
quality and efficacy of Chinese vaccines have been questioned due to the concealment of
test data and lack of transparency in information. Recent reports have revealed that
Brazil—which was initially planning to deploy China’s Sinovac—raised concerns about
the efficacy and safety of the vaccine and ultimately decided to opt for India’s Bharat
Biotech.

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 2) Economically, it will make India a global supply centre accounting for 20 per cent of
global production and meets 62 per cent of the global demand for vaccines. Also, it will
boost Pharma Manufacturing in India, help in reviving the economy.
3) The US-China cold war has also been accused of making the distribution of vaccines
“political football”, which caused the inordinate delay in commencing the inoculation
programmes by WHO. Thus, an early shipment of vaccines by India is seen as a rescue
from this bipolar tussle. India's vaccine distribution comes at a time when the WHO
director-General has criticised the moral corruption of drug manufacturers from rich
countries for delaying the distribution of vaccines and targeting shipments to rich
countries only. This could help India have a moral right to have greater say in
international forums.
4) Facilitating global collaboration, India vaccines supply could cater greatly to the global
collaboration which is being done through the WHO-backed COVAX Facility
mechanism. On 25th Feb, Ghana among 92 countries became the first nation to get Covid
vaccines under this initiative, with a delivery of 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine
made by the Serum Institute of India.

Currently, India is prioritizing its population but India’s ability to manufacture vaccines was
always going to outstrip the nation’s ability to inoculate all of its citizens. And the country’s
leaders can now deploy those millions of surplus vaccines to win friends and influence abroad.
With an export count of more than 33 million shots - three times as many doses as it has
administered domestically, the slow pace of vaccinations has prompted criticism and the new
option for some of securing jabs at private clinics.

India has launched the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination drive where there is a need for
more than a billion doses to protect its population. If the government can ensure that its domestic
vaccine requirements are being adequately met, as seems to be the plan, there is little possibility

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of political blowback for Modi of sending vaccine elsewhere India needs to balance its domestic
needs with diplomatic commitments. The vaccination drive in India commenced in January 2021
is going to be the World's Largest Vaccination Program. India has the challenge that while it
distributes the vaccine to the world, it should ensure the much-needed vaccine supply to those in
India who cannot afford it. Until then let’s pray that we get back to normal life which now seems
a dream for many of us.