India’s vaccine diplomacy

‘Vaccine diplomacy’ is playing an increasingly important role in the geopolitics of the Covid-19 pandemic. Countries like China and India are attempting to bolster their credentials and earn some goodwill, by donating or selling their surplus vaccine supplies to low-income countries, or nations with longer term partnership potential.

China has already donated half a million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to its regional ally Pakistan. This followed President Xi’s announcement earlier this year that the development and deployment of a Chinese vaccine will be ‘a global public good.’ Meanwhile China’s regional rival India, which has the world’s largest vaccination programme, is driving forward its ‘Vaccine Maitri’ (Vaccine Friendship) initiative. A consignment of Indian-made vaccine doses arrived in Kuwait in the last few days, and India has already donated over 5.5 million doses to neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. India sees cooperation with other nations in fighting the global pandemic as a national priority.