Guyana came on the COVID-19 radar when it confirmed its first case of imported Coronavirus in Georgetown on 11th March 2020. More than a year has passed, and the pandemic shows no signs of diminishing. The situation is no better in most countries of the world. Among the few known ways to combat the new coronavirus is the COVID-19 vaccine, developed at the same time by many companies and countries around the world. Personally, it was a great honor to receive a shipment of 80,000 WHO-approved Oxford-AstraZeneca COVISHIELD vaccine doses on March 7 at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, alongside Hon. Brig. (Retd.) Mark Phillips, Prime Minister of Guyana, Hon. Frank Anthony, Minister for Health and Hon. Hugh Todd, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The vaccine load is a gift from the people and Government of India to the people of Guyana. With Guyana now undergoing the vaccination process, I am hopeful that the Made in India vaccines will be useful in protecting the most vulnerable and at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 .
The vaccine shipment to Guyana is part of India’s larger effort called ‘Vaccine Maitri’ or ‘Vaccine Friend-ship’, to which India has so far shipped 58 million doses of vaccines to 71 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa. The receiving countries include the UK, Canada, Brazil and Mexico. Covishield and Covaxin have been exported to date – some in the form of “donations”, others in accordance with commercial agreements signed between the vaccine manufacturers and recipient countries, and the remainder under the Covax scheme, which is led by World Health. Organization (WHO) and hopes to provide more than two billion doses to people in 190 countries in less than a year. In the coming days, India will supply vaccines to more countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. India recently donated 175,000 doses of Covid-19 Made in India vaccine – COVISHIELD for the benefit of several CARICOM, Antigua and Barbuda (40,000 doses) countries, St. Kitts and Nevis (20,000 doses), St. Lucia (25,000 doses), St Vincent and Grenadines (40,000 doses) and Suriname (50,000 doses) are part of a 570,000 overall vaccine donation to the CARICOM region. This is done as we undertake the world’s largest vaccination drive back home, having vaccinated nearly 30 million including health and frontline workers and those over 60.
Many have asked in neck tones what India is seeking in return for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. “There’s more than meets the eye,” they said. “There’s definitely some quid pro quo,” others say. I feel a sense of ‘déjà vu’ bearing in mind that similar questions were raised when Cipla India raised the price of the AIDS-recommended fixed drug combination in 2001 from US $ 12,000 from Western companies to US $ 350 a year , or less than a dollar a day, as it benefits many in the impoverished regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
By distributing the COVISHIELD vaccine within days of its introduction, India has once again demonstrated its willingness and ability to act as a First Responder to crises in the World, including in Guyana. In the case of coronavirus, India has realized that it is impossible to control the pandemic by restricting vaccination to India alone. Global problems like these cannot be solved by adhering to national boundaries. This is also the reason that apart from starting vaccination in India and giving to developing countries, India has also opened the COVID-19 Made in India vaccines for use in COVAX facility, GAVI Alliance and for commercial procurement all over the world.
The logic behind India’s approach can also be seen in its age-old philosophy “Vasudheva kutumbakam,” which means that the world is one family. This philosophy is not just talk-talk but has long informed the Indian mind and our approach to the world. This philosophy is the core of India’s foreign policy approach and our emphasis on South-South cooperation. Dr. S. Jaishankar, Foreign Minister of India “Bhagavad Gita provinces always do your job with the welfare of others in mind and that is Maitri Vaccine = Vaccine Friendship”. It was in this spirit that India also provided over US $ million worth of 35 life-breathing appliances and COVID-related medicines and medical equipment, including Hydroxichloroquine, personal protective equipment kits and masks for Guyana which I personally donated on September 2nd. 2020.
Another reason India could pull Maitri Vaccine and medical gifts is because of its ability to manufacture pharmaceuticals and develop a vaccine, which has been carefully built over the years. India is the largest provider of generic medicines globally, and also the only country with the largest number of US FDA-compliant pharma plants outside the US. With more than 3,000 pharmacy companies and over 10,000 manufacturing facilities, India is referred to as the world’s pharmacy. More than 62 percent of the world’s vaccines are also from India and form the backbone of mass vaccination programs by entities such as UNICEF and WHO. Indian vaccines are not only uncompromising in quality and safety, but also the most affordable in the world. This is what prompted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to say recently that India’s vaccine production capacity is “the best asset the world has today” in the era of COVID-19. People around the world have expressed concern about the need for larger countries not to engage in the practice of ‘vaccine hoarding’. WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus has also said that the world is “on the brink of catastrophic moral failure” and warned that a “me-first approach” in the distribution of vaccines will “only prolong the pandemic”.
As far as COVID-19 vaccines are concerned, India has so far approved two Made in India vaccines for emergency use. The first is the COVISHIELD which is produced by the Serum Institute of India. The other is COVAXIN, developed by Bharat Biotech, one of the largest vaccine developers in India. COVAXIN has already been administered to many millions in India, including to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with few, if any, side effects. Recently, preliminary results of the COVAXIN Phase 3 clinical trials have shown 81 percent efficacy. COVAXIN is also claimed to be effective against UK COVID-19 strains. The medical journal Lancet has also called COVAXIN “safe, immunogenic with no serious side effects”.
COVAXIN is also being considered for import from Guyana and other countries in the region, including Brazil (which has already ordered 20 million doses), Nicaragua, Paraguay, Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, etc. along with several from other nations like Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mauritius, some Gulf nations, etc. subject to approval by their regulatory authorities. About half a dozen other COVID-19 vaccines are in various stages of development in India, including an intra-nasal vaccine from Bharat Biotech.
India firmly believes that the only way to defeat the virus is through cooperation and sharing of resources between countries. In the words of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, “Today India, with only two Made in India vaccines, is ready to protect humanity.”
I have no doubt that, with closer cooperation, we will be able to make progress not only in tackling the pandemic but other global issues such as global warming, poverty and terrorism.
I conclude with another ancient Sanskrit couplet, part of which is also hand-printed on the COVID-19 vaccine consignment that landed in Guyana:
“Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Bhavantu Niramayah
Sarve Bhadrani Pasyantu, Ma Kascidduh Khabhagbhaveta
“Let everyone be quiet, no one may be sick,
May everyone see what is promising, no one may suffer. ”