Friends first: India adopts ‘HCQ model’ to send Covid vaccines to neighbours | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Friends first: India adopts ‘HCQ model’ to send Covid vaccines to neighbours

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
Jan 07, 2021 07:20 PM IST

India is expected to supply the Covid vaccine on a commercial basis as well as assistance

India will adopt the ‘HCQ model’ to give other countries access to Covid vaccines being manufactured in the country in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge to make the shield against coronavirus available to all humanity. India’s neighbours and closest friends would, however, be given the first priority after setting aside the vaccine needed for people in the country, people familiar with the matter said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been keen to stay deeply engaged with the world during the global pandemic and had made it a point that the pharmaceutical industry plays a role to cement India’s relations with friendly countries(AP)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been keen to stay deeply engaged with the world during the global pandemic and had made it a point that the pharmaceutical industry plays a role to cement India’s relations with friendly countries(AP)

India had adopted the same format to make Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) available to friendly countries after studies indicated that the anti-malaria drug could be used as a prophylaxis. Besides sending HCQ supplies as assistance, India had commercially supplied half a billion HCQ tablets to 82 countries.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

India’s commitment to supply 12 million doses of the vaccine to Nepal, which will be conveyed to Kathmandu when foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali lands in New Delhi next week, is part of this template.

Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had indicated the broad contours of this approach to extend India’s vaccine umbrella to countries in south Asia when he travelled to Nepal late last year. “The first priority will be for our closest neighbours, our friends,” Shringla had said.

Indian diplomats said this format would be replicated elsewhere in the region but the terms of the arrangement could be different. There could be a certain quantity of the vaccine that is made available on a grant basis while the rest would be on a commercial basis.

Bangladesh, which had contracted for 30 million doses, has granted approval to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. The vaccines are expected to start landing in Dhaka from early February, according to reports from Dhaka.

The Sheikh Hasina government had logged out of clinical trials for Chinese vaccine Sinovac after the manufacturer Sinovac Biotech demanded that Dhaka co-fund the late-stage domestic trial of its potential vaccine. Bangladesh subsequently declined to opt for the Chinese vaccine beyond the 1.1 lakh doses that it was to get free according to the arrangement to allow the trials in the country.

The company’s demand that Dhaka should pay for the trials was also contrary to President Xi Jinping’s stated position articulated at the World Health Assembly when he had called the Chinese vaccine a “global public good”, an attempt to recast the narrative around coronavirus in its favour in face of criticism for Beijing’s initial handling of the infection first report from the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Myanmar has, however, kept its options open and has announced a deal to source vaccines from the Serum Institute of India (SII).

“The purchase contract for buying the first batch of the vaccines from India has already been signed. As soon as the authorities concerned in India have issued permission to use this vaccine, we have made arrangements for the import of these vaccines into Myanmar,” announced, State Counsellor Daw AungSan Suu Kyi in her New Year address to the nation. Myanmar already has a pact in place to buy vaccines from China.

Myanmar has also asked the World Health Organisation’s COVAX programme and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation to secure vaccines for its poor. These, however, are expected to arrive by April.

Brazil, which had been facing complications around the Chinese vaccines, has also reached out to New Delhi for vaccine consignments of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine made by the Pune-based SII.

Pakistan, as expected, is relying heavily on the Chinese vaccines that are being supplied abroad, according to communist party-linked Global Times, to recoup the cost of giving free vaccinations to the Chinese people.

A Global Times article that attributed India’s plans to use the India-made vaccine for political brand-building and counter the international influence of Chinese vaccines, grudgingly acknowledged India’s expertise in the vaccine business.

“Experts suggested that India’s vaccines are no less competitive than Chinese COVID-19 vaccines in both research and production capacity, considering that India has the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer and lower costs in labor and facilities,” the Global Times report said.

Unveiling Elections 2024: The Big Picture', a fresh segment in HT's talk show 'The Interview with Kumkum Chadha', where leaders across the political spectrum discuss the upcoming general elections. Watch now!

Get Current Updates on India News, Election 2024, Arvind Kejriwal News Live, Bihar Board 10th Result 2024 Live along with Latest News and Top Headlines from India and around the world.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    author-default-90x90

    Author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). Awarded K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 2011 Ben Gurion Prize by Israel.

SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On