India's COVID Devastation - Grace Wu + Kaylah Bresee

 

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xl0ettr7ih_dchvaZAw-R8fm-cJ5PZmL2z1ZDRqKHyA/edit?usp=sharing

Course Themes:

1. Show how perception is more important than reality in politics

2. Illustrate the dilemma between a nation-state’s immediate self-interest and a longer term “enlightened” self interest that considers the welfare of other nations and of future generations.

Back in early February of 2021, it seemed as if India was coming closer to normal. They reported the same amount of cases as New York did, despite having 50 times the population. At the time, epidemiologists saw the only explanation of this was widespread immunity. However, in April, there was a sudden re-surge of cases. Oxygen and hospital beds were becoming more and more scarce. In turn, people began buying medicine from the black market, frantically trying to help their sick relatives. Images of bodies began flying around social media. On April 27, the total death count surpassed 200,000.    

Many people have blamed the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks that lockdown should be the last resort. However, some cities and states have implemented new lockdown restrictions since Modi refuses to have a lockdown nationwide. Modi’s team is working on building new oxygen plants. Normally, India’s hospitals only use about 15% of the liquid oxygen made. However, during COVID, they are now using about 90% of the total. Some Indian states do not have oxygen plants where they can produce their own oxygen, so they have to receive the oxygen tanks from other states. However, making oxygen tanks is a difficult task. It takes about 2 hours to fully fill one tank making the process time-consuming. Also, when the oxygen tanks are being transported, they can only travel 25 mph, making the process even longer. Modi announced plans to build 551 new oxygen plants throughout India. However, the government also planned on building 162 of these oxygen plants back in October of 2021, only 33 have been built. Besides the plans to build new oxygen plants, people who are over the age of 18 will be able to receive vaccines on May 1st. What is causing the sudden outbreak? Health experts think it may have to do with new variants.  

Some have criticized Modi because he allowed Holi celebrations. Holi is an important holiday to Hinduism. Many believe that this has a connection to the recent outbreak. Many health experts requested the festivities to be canceled, however, Modi still declined to cancel celebrations. However, the government promised to take safety measures, it is extremely hard to maintain social distancing during such a big holiday.   

The world has been having a large dispute over the issue of vaccine nationalism. Vaccine nationalism is the idea that a country should only be responsible for vaccinating its own population. Currently, dozens of wealthy governments are securing vaccines and/or raw materials needed to produce vaccines for their own populations and therefore limiting the stock available for others. As a result, vaccine access and vaccination rates are high in high-to-upper-income countries but remain low among lower-income and lower-resource countries. According to Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center, high-income countries have secured 4.7 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, compared to only 770 million acquired by low-income countries. This hoarding of vaccines and materials is very detrimental to developing countries such as India. 

The COVID crisis in India has also sparked growing hostility between the U.S. and China, as well as international criticism of both. Although the Biden administration did address the assistance, including the immediate export of raw materials required for India’s vaccine production, therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators, and protection, the U.S’s delay piled criticism against the Biden administration on social media in and out of India. The Times of India have been condemning the U.S. for being selfish, hypocritical, indifferent, and an unreliable country that “plays geopolitics to serve its own interests”. This is heavily due to the media’s assumption that the U.S. is stockpiling raw materials and the vaccine to ensure the priority of American vaccination. In addition, President Biden’s decision of potentially distributing 10 million U.S. stocks of the AstraZeneca vaccine—a vaccine that has not been approved by the FDA for the U.S. to use—internationally has also been heavily criticized. For example, China has scorned that the U.S. is just distributing inferior vaccines that they don’t want. Such hostility and suspicion for exploiting the pandemic have been an issue between China and the U.S. since the pandemic started. In 2020, the Trump administration had already begun to blame China for “vaccine diplomacy,” a concern that the Biden administration shares. Now, Washington is experiencing the same backlash from Beijing. China has also offered its own help, including medical equipment and Chinese vaccines. Already, Beijing has airlifted 800 oxygen contractors from Hong Kong to New Delhi and will have 10,000 more coming within a week. However, speculations have been made about both the U.S. and China in claims that they are not sincerely concerned about India; Washington is aiding to “damage control” yet Beijing is trying to highlight the failure and “unreliability” of the U.S. and drive a split between India-U.S. relations. 

Discussion Questions:

1. If you were the leader of a high-income country, would you prioritize your own population’s vaccination?

2. If you were the Prime Minister, would you still allow religious celebrations to happen during the pandemic? 

Sources:

“How Vaccine Nationalism May Delay Global Herd Immunity.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/herd-immunity-may-take-4-6-years-due-to-vaccine-nationalism.

amanda_m_macias. “U.S. to Give India Raw Materials for Vaccines, Medical Supplies to Help Fight Covid Surge.” CNBC, CNBC, 26 Apr. 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/04/25/us-to-give-india-raw-materials-for-vaccines-medical-supplies-to-fight-covid.html.

“China Attempts to Exploit India's Criticism of Sluggish U.S. Aid for Its Coronavirus Crisis.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2021-04-27/china-attempts-to-exploit-indias-criticism-of-sluggish-us-aid-for-its-coronavirus-crisis.

“As US and China Offer Coronavirus Aid, India Wary of Hidden Agendas.” South China Morning Post, 27 Apr. 2021, www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3131268/us-and-china-offer-coronavirus-aid-india-wary-hidden.

Chidanand Rajghatta / TNN / Updated: Apr 27, 2021. “US Government Jolts into Action to Aid India after Criticism of Silence: India News - Times of India.” The Times of India, TOI, 

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/covid-19-us-diverting-raw-materials-to-serum-institute-for-vaccine-production/articleshow/82265240.cms

Krishnan, Ananth. “China Offers Vaccines to South Asia, Says 'Ready to Support' India.” The Hindu, The Hindu, 27 Apr. 2021, www.thehindu.com/news/international/china-offers-vaccines-to-south-asia-says-ready-to-support-india/article34423395.ece.

Times, Global. “US Slammed for 'Selfish,' 'Indifferent' Response to India's Call for Help amid Devastating COVID-19 Crisis.” Global Times, www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222068.shtml.

Team, BS Web. “Coronavirus Vaccine Registration: FAQs on Covid-19 Vaccine, CoWIN, and More.” Business Standard, Business-Standard, 28 Apr. 2021, www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/coronavirus-vaccine-registration-faqs-on-covid-19-vaccine-cowin-side-effects-covishield-risks-covaxin-all-you-need-to-know-121042800459_1.html.

Antonia Noori Farzan, Claire Parker. “How Did the Covid-19 Outbreak in India Get so Bad?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Apr. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/04/27/india-covid-surge-faq/.

“Huge Gatherings at India's Hindu Festival as Virus Surges.” Voice of America, www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/huge-gatherings-indias-hindu-festival-virus-surges.

“mueller7accent-Dict 2002.02.27-8 / Usr / Share / Dictd / mueller7accent.Index.” /Usr/Share/Dictd/mueller7accent.Index, www.apt-browse.org/browse/debian/wheezy/main/all/mueller7accent-dict/2002.02.27-8/file/usr/share/dictd/mueller7accent.index.