As India’s vaccine diplomacy puts China on the back foot in South Asia, Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times has sought to mount a smear campaign to try and discredit the Indian initiative.
India has already gifted the Covishield vaccine manufactured locally by Serum Institute of India to all Saarc countries except Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
While India will donate 500,000 doses of the vaccine to Sri Lanka on January 27, the government has assured Kabul that Afghanistan will figure high on India’s priority list for Covid-19 vaccine once the local regulator grants approval for its use.
Not surprisingly, Global Times has reacted with a propaganda campaign against India’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative, raising questions about India’s capacity to manufacture vaccines after the fire at the Serum Institute and also claiming that Indians in China were “embracing” Chinese vaccines. ( TOI )
