Good neighbour vaccine outreach. Why Not?

Feb 01, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News– In a world awash with intensifying tension and strife, we say that it should be done early, since it would be such a wonderful humanitarian gesture, and in a time when most needed, that of severe crisis. It is this peculiar situation in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, where hostile-almost at war-neighbours, India and Pakistan, are both struggling to manage their enormous outbreaks from the fangs of this virus. India has the vaccine, and has began distribution to friendly relations, which is a commendable action; it must now rise above the fratricidal fray, and to the challenging occasion, and extend a helping hand to hard pressed Pakistan confronting challenging circumstances brought about by the relentless assaults of the COVID-19 virus.
India has its own pandemic problems plaguing its society, with its hands more than full in efforts to manage effectively and overcome what has infected millions of its own. But even as this is said, it has to be noted that “India makes about 60 percent of vaccines globally” and “has begun shipping millions of free doses to friendly neighbours in the region” as part of its vaccine diplomacy strategy (“Will Pakistan get COVID vaccines from India?” BBC, January 29). It is irrelevant that, at the core of this vaccine diplomacy on India’s part, there is the belief in some quarters that it is intended to serve as a counter to increasing Chinese influence in the region, and the distribution is part and parcel of India’s own geopolitical visions. What is relevant is that Pakistan has over a half million confirmed cases, and that next door India is the world’s largest vaccine maker.
Which one of us would be so filled with rancor and venom that our neighbour’s home is on fire and we do not rush to lend a helping hand? It does not matter that relations had deteriorated to such a poor place that not one civil word has been shared for the longest while. What is relevant and important is that there is a medical emergency of the first degree, that vaccines are available, and that there is need. It should be of no significance that anger and hostility are the order of the day. This is what has removed man from the treetops and the caves. It is at such a crossroad of circumstances that compels us to how we must be, since we know all too well what we must do. This is when the light of man is made to shine at its brightest.
India is shining in its vaccine actions extended to its neighbours. Though distant, there is optimism in Guyana that some of that vaccine generosity would make its way, all the way over here, and early. This pharmaceutical powerhouse of a country “has pledged to deliver up to 200 million doses to low and middle-income countries before the end of 2021.” Again, it is our wish that Guyana’s name would feature smartly in the considerations of which places get some doses, and how many.
Some in Pakistan are similarly wishful 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 top Karachi-based importer of vaccines, currently “almost 90 percent of vaccines administered in Pakistan come from India.” He further added that Indian vaccines “are world-class, affordable, and shipping is easy.” Again, we say that in the interest of possibly enhanced neighbourly relations, it should be done and soon. To do otherwise would smack of the malicious and vicious. Such a helpful move by India towards its arch-rival of a neighbour would only be interpreted as noble and humane, and incredibly compassionate in a time 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 deescalating from the heights of roiling tensions and pave the way to something approaching calm. It is that or continuing and spreading military confrontations and standoffs. We think 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 neighbour. Share the wealth, and seek openings to make life a little more bearable for the people of both societies.

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