Can India Build a Legacy Out of ‘Vaccine Diplomacy’?

As the world looks to emerge, at long last, from the clutches of COVID-19, India has begun pressing its immense pharmaceutical capabilities to good effect.

By early February, India had already supplied COVID-19 vaccines to as many as 17 countries around the world – from South Asia to West Asia, and from Africa to Latin America. Over half a million doses were sent as a gift to India’s neighbors. Another half a million doses are expected to make their way to the Caribbean, with further supplies being shipped to islands in the Pacific. For Africa, India has earmarked another 10 million doses.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, things have gotten ugly in the fight for a vaccine. In early January, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared that rich countries have cornered the “majority of the supply” by making bilateral deals with manufacturers. The European Union, for instance, said that it had reached a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 300 million additional doses of their vaccine. In all, that would give the EU nearly half of the firms’ global output for 2021, according to a Reuters report.

In the midst of what many are now disparaging as “vaccine nationalism,” India’s vaccine diplomacy stands out. But this is not just about moral responsibility; it is also smart foreign policy. In order to build its global presence and influence, India should look to undertake initiatives that make use of its unique abilities, in order to meet the needs of the rest of the world.

Vaccine diplomacy ticks many boxes: It leverages India’s vast capacity as a pharmaceutical power and positions New Delhi as a champion for the developing world in the middle of a global calamity. According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, India produces 60 percent of the world’s vaccines, with the WHO sourcing as much as 70 percent of its essential immunization vaccines from India. New Delhi’s vaccine diplomacy deployed this already existing capacity to serve an important and urgent global interest.

India hopes that this monumental contribution would place its global leadership aspirations on surer footing, and help expand India’s foreign policy influence in the months and years ahead. Yet, let’s face it: Global public attention is short and fickle, and India’s efforts today are unlikely to be remembered a few years down the line. If India wants to turn its humanitarian efforts into greater foreign policy influence in the long term, ad hoc bilateral initiatives – even timely ones in the middle of a pandemic – are not going to cut it. New Delhi should see this as an opportunity to build a more impactful, multilateral effort that goes far beyond the pandemic.

Think of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Chinese assistance to the developing world is not new; some African partners received aid for infrastructure as early as during the days of Mao Zedong himself. But up until the BRI, these projects were done on a bilateral basis and were hence limited in impact on the world stage. The success of the BRI in building China’s global profile was a result of branding the outcomes of one project in one country as benefits that would accrue to another country elsewhere.

The post-pandemic world gives India an opportunity to do something similar. The pandemic has exposed the harsh realities of global inequality on all fronts – from socioeconomic development to the capacity of governments to deliver basic public services in times of need. In the post-COVID-19 world, countries everywhere will be seeking to develop public systems and build their own capacities to prevent future pandemics – or, at the very least, be better prepared to deal with them. That will include, among other things, bolstering their own healthcare infrastructure and pharmaceutical capabilities, in order to develop and manufacture vaccines when required.

Under the circumstances, New Delhi has a unique opportunity to lead the establishment of a multilateral capacity-building and knowledge-sharing initiative, aimed at addressing these exact long-term needs. India should develop a platform that helps other countries learn from India's successes, while also sharing their own lessons in development – all of which could help rebuild countries after the pandemic and make them more resilient in the face of future threats.

Such a forum can host countries from around the world and assist in developing solutions to challenges that are specific to the developing world. Lessons may be borrowed and shared from every part of the globe. These can then take the shape of global norms and standards for policymaking — resulting in a kind of “Delhi Consensus.” A platform like this could also help India in finding creative solutions to its own developmental needs.

India has managed to leverage its unique advantages in order to drive “vaccine diplomacy.” But its foreign policy influence will benefit immensely from extending this effort beyond the pandemic itself.