Good neighbor vaccine outreach. Why not?
Kaieteur News– In a world filled with tension and intense strife, we say it should be done early, as it would be such a wonderful humanitarian gesture, and in a time when it was most needed, a serious crisis. It is this wondrous situation in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, in which hostile hostile neighbors, India and Pakistan, find it difficult to control their massive outbreaks of mangoes of this virus. India has the vaccine, and has begun distributing it to friendly contacts, which is a commendable act; it must now rise above the fratricidal fraud, and to the challenging occasion, and lend a helping hand to hard-pressed Pakistan facing challenging circumstances caused by the relentless attacks of the COVID-19 virus.
India has its own pandemic problems plaguing its society, with its hands more than full in efforts to effectively control and overcome what has infected millions of its own. But even as this is said, it must be noted that “India makes around 60 per cent of vaccines globally” and “has started to deliver millions of free doses to friendly neighbors in the region” as part of its strategy vaccine diplomacy (“Will Pakistan get COVID vaccines from India?” BBC, January 29). It is irrelevant, at the core of this vaccine diplomacy on the part of India, is the belief in some quarters that it is intended to be an opponent of increasing Chinese influence in the region, and distribution is an integral part of India itself. geopolitical visions. What is relevant is that Pakistan has over half a million confirmed cases, and that India’s next door is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.
Which of us would be so full of rancor and poison that our neighbor’s house is on fire and we don’t rush to lend a helping hand? It doesn’t matter that relations have deteriorated to such a poor place that no single civil word has been shared for the longest time. What is relevant and important is that there is a first-class medical emergency, that vaccines are available, and needed. It should not be of any significance that anger and hostility are the order of the day. This is what has pulled a man from the treetops and caves. It is at the intersection of such circumstances that force us to how we must be, because we know full well what we must do. This is when man’s light is made to shine at its brightest.
India shines through in its vaccine actions extended to its neighbors. Though by far, there is optimism in Guyana that some of that vaccine generosity would make its way, all the way over here, and early. This country’s pharmaceutical powerhouse “has promised to deliver up to 200 million doses to low and middle income countries by the end of 2021.” Again, our wish is that Guyana’s name would appear plausible in the considerations of where, and how much, some doses receive.
Some in Pakistan are just as pleasant and hopeful, and they have some facts at their fingertips that point in the right direction. According to Usman Ghani of the Sindh Medical Stores, a leading importer of vaccines in Karachi, “almost 90 per cent of the vaccines administered in Pakistan are from India.” He further added that Indian vaccines are “world-class, affordable, and easy to transport.” Again, we say it should be done and soon in the interest of possibly better neighborly relations. To do otherwise would smack the malicious and the vicious. Such a useful move by India towards its neighbor superpower would be interpreted as noble and humane, and extremely compassionate in times of trouble.
For too long, the two nuclear-armed and religiously committed nations have been at each other’s windpipes. Vaccine outreach can go a long way in decomposing from the heights of rolling tensions and paving the way for something approaching calm. That is, or continue and spread military conflicts and standoffs. We believe that there is a good opportunity for India to take the lead and set an example for other places to follow. So, we say again: share some vaccines. Be a good neighbor. Share the wealth, and seek out openings to make life a little more portable for the people of both societies.