Opinion | How Modi’s vaccine diplomacy has left India at the mercy of others’ political agendas

India is currently undergoing a massive surge in Covid-19 cases – a second wave which was, according to most experts, unavoidable but manageable. Social media has been overwhelmed with requests for medication, hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and ventilators.

Those who get help are the privileged few while the marginalised majority, those without connections or social media, go under- or unreported. The country’s health care system has crumbled in its entirety and the government has done little to prevent things from getting this bad.

Last October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went as far as to say India was the “pharmacy to the world”. In January, World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted to thank India and Modi for “continued support to the global Covid-19 response”. But, today, India is looking at a situation where states and corporations might well import vaccines.

Merkel’s remarks were horrific – in the same interview, she went on to say that European powers “let” India become such a big pharmaceutical exporter. But, in a world where leaders such as Merkel and US President Joe Biden are looking out for their own, why was Modi distributing vaccines in his grand “vaccine diplomacy” scheme?

The exercise retrospectively reads as a strongman initiative, wanting to one-up China by supplying vaccines to neighbouring countries in an attempt to fix India’s image in the region.