“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’’ – “The World is One Family” is the new mantra that India has given to the global world and its Vaccine Maitri initiative amidst Covid 19 pandemic exemplifies that in a true sense. When the deadly waves of Covid 19 pandemic were exposing the fragility and inadequacy of the global health system, amidst this crisis India emerged as a responsible global power that not only took care of its 1.4 crore people through its vaccination program but also helped other nations through its flagship Vaccine Maitri program.
We all are witness to how Covid19 pandemic presented an unprecedented challenge to the global world with respect to public health, food security and the world of work. Every country was struggling hard to respond swiftly to this deadly pandemic and this was not an easy task for India especially with its population of 1.4 billion people. In fact, with the rise of cases in Covid19 pandemic, the global media predicted a catastrophe in India and vouched for its failure. Some media experts even projected India’s response to Covid19 as humanitarian disaster.
But India proved its detractors wrong by setting up an exemplary pro-vaccination covid management model through which it launched world’s largest vaccination drive wherein 2.2 billion vaccine doses were administered to people and we were successful in saving around 3.4 million lives. The achievement of India in developing, producing and distributing Covid19 vaccines is exemplary and showcased the capability of a new Bharat which is Atmanirbhar (Self Dependent) and committed to the welfare of its people.
During the war with covid, when most of the developed nations started looking inwards and erected barriers in sharing the vaccine doses, India embraced a holistic and outward-looking vaccine diplomacy strategy which emphasized on self-healing as well as helping humanity. India has set up an example of global leadership which is committed to humanity and welfare of everyone especially the most vulnerable in our societies, particularly in the emerging and developing world.
As the “pharmacy of the world” and in keeping with the commitment to use country’s vaccine production and delivery capacity for the welfare of all humanity, India supplied Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets to more than 100 nations at the time when this medicine which is used for giving it to malaria patient was considered as the only saviour for Covid-19 infected patients.
As a return to the goodwill earned by India, its friends, and partners came forward and strengthened India’s fight against Covid-19 during the second wave by helping with their resources. Singapore donated cryogenic oxygen tanks, and Australia shipped oxygen, ventilators, and personal protective equipment (PPE) kits. Saudi Arabia contributed to shipping liquid oxygen to India while the United Arab Emirates was airlifting high-capacity oxygen tankers. UK shipped over “600 pieces of vital medical equipment” while Russia helped with remdesivir as well as provided oxygen concentrators and generators.
Along with this, India also supplied 235 million vaccine doses to around 98 countries of the world.
India’s VaccineMaitri program that was initiated in Jan 2021 was a major diplomatic effort to gift and supply made-in-India vaccines to low-income and developing countries globally thus ensuring availability of vaccines to most vulnerable population of world. Pursuing the Neighbourhood first policy, the neighbours of India were the first recipients of this humanitarian program.
Vaccine Maitri – Phase 1 (Neighbouring countries)
- 150000 vaccine doses to Bhutan,
- 100000 doses to Maldives, Nepal and Mauritius respectively,
- 20 lakh doses to Bangladesh,
- 50000 doses to Seychelles,
- 1500000 doses to Myanmar and
- 500000 doses to Srilanka.
Vaccine Maitri – Phase 2 (Partner countries)
- 100000 doses to Oman and Bahrain respectively,
- 500000 doses to Caricom countries,
- 200000 doses to Nicargua and
- 200000 doses to the Pacific Island states
- 100000 doses to Paraguay
These are the names of few of the recipient countries that were helped with vaccines doses to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and to protect lives and livelihoods.
Further to this, 1 crore (10 million) doses were supplied to Africa and 10 lakh (1 million) doses were given to UN health workers under GAVI’s COVAX facility.
Considering the massive outbreak of the deadly pandemic and India stepping forward as the first responder in this emergency, India’s vaccine outreach program established India as a multilateral institution. Vaccine Maitri or Vaccine Friendship not only ensured India’s firm presence and visibility in the geopolitical canvas but also reinforced India’s commitment to humanity and welfare of everyone.
This humanitarian and noble initiative of Vaccine Maitri was applauded by the heads of various countries who thanked India for helping them with vaccines in the times of need thus earning India the much-needed strategic international goodwill from nations across the world.
The Vaccine Maitri flagship program helped India to strongly gain strategic relevance for its foreign policy goals in the geopolitical context. It placed India at the spotlight of world for its dedicated efforts in ensuring global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic for not just its own population but for everyone in the world.
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