India cannot turn its back entirely on vaccine diplomacy and opt for vaccine nationalism alone as production of vaccines is quintessentially a form of international cooperation, former ambassador and India’s permanent representative at the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin has said.
“Vaccine diplomacy is in keeping with our traditions,” Akbaruddin said in an interaction with ET after taking over as the dean of Kautilya School of Public Policy, Hyderabad. “We call it ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’, saying that we see the world as one family. India has benefited for years from this form of international cooperation.”
None of the vaccines being produced in India, including those for the Covid-19 pandemic now, is inherently something where everything is made or researched or produced in India, he said.
Vaccine diplomacy needs to be viewed in a broader perspective and in a nuanced manner, Akbaruddin said. “Pursuing international cooperation in a calibrated manner is the right thing to have done and is the right thing to do because other countries are waiting for our success in this. Never has there been in Indian history an opportunity where 90 countries are waiting for you to produce something,” he said.
“Sure, if there is a force majeure, like we are now facing, we need to be cognizant of taking into account our needs.”
Under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative, India had gifted vaccines to other nations. The export of both commercial and grant-based vaccine doses to countries, including those in the neighbourhood, came to a halt due to domestic pressure and a shortage of vaccines amid a ravaging second wave of Covid-19.
Talking about India’s public health crisis, Akbaruddin said that for many decades India has neglected public health as a concern. “If you look at budget allocations, which are a good reflection of the importance given to any area, you will find that for many years we had neglected this,” he said.
The challenge the country is facing has clearly shown that what we are doing is not enough in financial terms, infrastructure terms, and in terms of adequate thinking going into it.
However, this challenge is not limited to governments. It is a global public concern that is multidimensional or multidisciplinary in nature. It’s not only about medical or health. It’s about laws, economics and finance, and ethics and norms, he said. “It is the first of many such challenges. The 21st century is going to be a century of such multidimensional challenges, which are global, multidisciplinary, and which are in the sense of being black swans.”
Akbaruddin listed out the threats facing the world – climate change or environment, public health, and the entire expanse of new or disruptive technologies. All these are impacting ordinary individuals with states struggling to find solutions to it, he said.
In this context, public policy is moving beyond the local and the national, towards a global vision, Akbaruddin said.
