India helped over 100 nations: Tharoor lauds Modi govt's 'vaccine diplomacy' during Covid pandemic

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday heaped praise on Centre's 'Vaccine Maitri' initiative, launched during Covid-19 and termed it one of India's most "significant accomplishments."

"India's vaccine diplomacy during Covid pandemic stands out from amid the horrors of that time, as a powerful example of international leadership rooted in responsibility and solidarity," he wrote in an article in The Week.

Tharoor, who had served as MoS External Affairs in the Congress-led UPA, acknowledged and appreciated India's vaccine diplomacy during Covid pandemic in 2020-2021, saying it "embodied and contributed to the very spirit of its soft power."

Vaccine Maitri (Vaccine Friendship) was a humanitarian initiative undertaken by the Narendra Modi-led government to provide vaccines to more than 100 countries around the world when the pandemic was killing millions around the world. Following this, the Centre started providing vaccines from January 20, 2021.

After producing two major vaccines -- Covishield and CoVaxin -- India supplied it to over 100 countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, African nations, and Myanmar. He said that India did what more affluent countries did not.

"The government was careful to couch its initiative as rooted in the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), emphasising global solidarity. That it also aligned with India's neighbourhood first policy, strengthening ties with other countries in the subcontinent, was an added bonus," Tharoor wrote.

The Congress MP said that Vaccine Maitri strengthened India's standing as a "force for good" in the world, "adding to the allure of its soft power" during the "dark days" of the Covid pandemic.

He stated that India contributed to the global COVAX initiative, centred within the World Health Organization (WHO), a global effort to ensure equitable vaccine distribution that is "shamefully under-resourced and inadequately supported" by wealthier developed countries.

"In doing so, India has reaffirmed its position as a global leader, shaping solutions within multilateral platforms. The richer nations, instead, spent their resources stocking up on vast quantities of vaccines for their own citizens, much of which had to be thrown away unused when they could have saved lives if distributed to poorer nations," Tharoor wrote.

Highlighting India's diplomacy efforts, particularly in the health sector, Tharoor wrote, "Our efforts were not limited merely to the provision of vaccines but extended to the sending of Indian military doctors to Nepal, the Maldives, and Kuwait, and to organising online training for health care workers across South Asian nations. Additionally, through its engagement with global platforms like GAVI, the Quad, and the Pan Africa E-Network, India addressed immediate health concerns while laying the groundwork for long-term international cooperation."

"It (India) carried the values of compassion, cooperation, and global partnership to the world, building goodwill, strengthening diplomatic ties, and elevating India's global stature. It's an example of a deliberate effort that portrayed an India bridging the aspirations of developing nations with the responsibilities of developed ones. Five years on, that silver lining to the Covid cloud is still worth recalling -- and applauding," Tharoor wrote in the article.

These remarks came against the backdrop of Throor's praise for the Prime Minister for India's stance in the Russia-Ukraine war and talks with US President Donald Trump.