Across the globe, the overriding response to COVID has been those of shutting down and looking inwards. While the global demand for drugs, medical supplies and PPEs were on an increase, most countries imposed export prohibitions and restrictions to stabilise domestic supplies.
Known as the world's pharmacy, India is the largest manufacturer of generic drugs (accounting for 20% of their global production) and vaccines (meeting 62% of their global demand). Since the pandemic started, the country has remained at the forefront of supplying medicines, generic drugs, and affordable vaccines against COVID-19 to low to middle-income countries. With requests from more than 100 countries for hydroxychloroquine (initially considered to be effective against COVID-19) and paracetamol (a common painkiller), India sent supplies to Brazil, the United States, and Israel. After spending $16 million (by May 2020) on pharmaceuticals, test kits, and other medical equipment for about 90 countries, India is now reaching out to them with "vaccine diplomacy." Around the world, COVID-19 vaccines, one of the world's most in-demand commodities, have become a valuable currency for international diplomacy as nations contend for soft-power gains.
Keeping with its "Neighbourhood First" policy, India has donated millions of doses of the COVISHIELD vaccine, developed jointly by Oxford’s Jenner Institute and AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and COVAXIN, an indigenously developed and manufactured vaccine by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research, to its immediate South Asian neighbours, and vital Indian Ocean partners, Mauritius and Seychelles, only days after the country launched its own nationwide inoculation program. Many of the recipient countries have signed "vaccine pacts" with India on a government-to-government basis to confirm the number of doses and determine if India must provide them under grant assistance or commercial terms. Despite having to undertake one of the largest immunisation programmes in the world, India has already supplied vaccine doses to Bahrain (1 lakh), Oman (1 lakh), Afghanistan (5 lakh), Barbados (1 lakh), Bangladesh (20 lakh), Myanmar (17 lakh), Nepal (10 lakh), Bhutan (1.5 lakh), the Maldives (1 lakh), Seychelles (1 lakh), Sri Lanka (5 lakh) and Dominica (70,000), all as gifts.
Since then, India has widened its vaccine diplomacy with Mexico and Canada. Within the coming weeks (at the time of writing the article), Argentina expects to receive 580,000 COVID-19 vaccines from India, with more sets of vaccines scheduled to arrive in March. India has also offered grant assistance in the form of 500,000 vaccine doses to Nicaragua. Additional to the vaccine grant assistance to its neighbours, India has also commenced commercial supply of vaccines to Brazil (20 lakhs), Egypt (50,000), Algeria (50,000), South Africa (10 lakhs), Kuwait (2 lakhs), UAE (2 lakhs), Morocco (60 lakhs), Bangladesh (50 lakhs) and Myanmar (20 lakhs).
"Vaccine Maitri" (Vaccine Friendship), as New Delhi has called this diplomatic initiative, is necessary to reinforce India's global profile and to offer a pushback against China's expanding influence in the neighbourhood. Amid growing criticism of "vaccine inequality", i.e., unequal access to vaccines between wealthy and LMIC/LDC countries, this gesture of goodwill has won India praise from its neighbours for making COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to developing countries. It aims to send a subtle message that others can depend on India, that India did not create the problem but it will be part of the solution.
Meanwhile, the foreign-policy gains in strategic areas could be significant. For instance, India intends to improve its ties with Bangladesh. Although the controversial CAA, legislated last year, and $40 billion investments from China in Bangladesh had strained relations between the two neighbours, the COVID-19 vaccine can relax the tension. Similarly, vaccine diplomacy has begun to help India resolve outstanding issues with Nepal. Despite its recent spurring with India over the Kalapani territorial dispute, an area situated at the strategic China-Nepal-India trijunction, Nepal expressed gratitude after receiving the vaccine. Furthermore, India’s vaccine diplomacy with countries like the Maldives and Mauritius, can nurture stronger ties in the Indian Ocean region and offset China's growing influence due to its financial investments and social development projects.
More importantly, India's act of sharing its vaccine supplies with other countries stands in stark contrast to many wealthy nations involved in cornering and even hoarding vaccine supplies. Accounting for a mere 16% of the world's population, a handful of rich countries have taken over 60% of the vaccines bought globally. While Canada has adequate doses designated to vaccinate its population more than five times over, it does not seem sincerely invested in ensuring LMIC/LDCs receive them. Although the COVAX facility was established to aid developing countries and claimed to have sourced 200 million doses, it has not yet delivered any of them. Ironically, South Africa is paying more than double what the EU is paying for every AstraZeneca vaccine dose. Before multilateral organisations agreed, New Delhi consistently supported measures to suspend COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property rights temporarily. That would mean it could produce generic versions at a tremendous pace immediately after the creation of a vaccine. Together with South Africa, India sponsored a WHO resolution calling for international cooperation to ensure global access to the vaccine. However, attempts to suspend the vaccine patents on humanitarian grounds were thwarted by the US, the EU, the UK, and Canada.
It is not an unfamiliar role for India to be the loudest voice for developing countries in an international forum, often leading to a sense of diplomatic isolation. However, India already remains one of the few countries exporting vaccines, to the extent that more than 90 nations have approached India, as opposed to the US, EU, or China, for vaccine supplies.
To ensure the necessary vaccine quantity remains within its borders, the Indian government has instructed the Serum Institute of India to not export the vaccine for many months in order for all such exports to occur via the Indian government and reach other countries' healthcare workers first. "Keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout, India will continue to supply vaccines to partner countries in the coming weeks and months in a phased manner," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. However, it must be noted that releasing vaccines to other nations is not equivalent to opening one's wallet; i.e., it is not a zero-sum game. Unlike money, vaccines lose potency if left unused. Disposal of vaccine doses due to a lack of infrastructure in developed countries like the US has been observed. Therefore, the solution is not to hoard vaccines but rather to ensure that as few of them go to waste as possible.
Notably, India's vaccine diplomacy directly engages it in competition with China—which has not concealed the idea that vaccine distribution is a means to attain its greater geopolitical ambitions. It has explicitly included vaccine distribution in its broader Health Silk Road initiative, aiming to strengthen China's global soft power. However, unlike other areas where China usually overshadows India in terms of military and economic might, pharmaceuticals, affordable health care, vaccine manufacture, and distribution are areas where India has a comparative edge and advantage over China.
Therefore, India must continue to expand its release of COVID-19 vaccines as rapidly and efficiently as possible to expand its influence. With a power vacuum for a situation in which India has the experience, it is in the position of a lifetime to further its diplomatic ties and entrench its position in the global community.
(Cover picture courtesy: AP Photo)
Comments