India has started exporting its locally produced vaccines to Brazil, Morocco, South Africa, the Philippines, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Seychelles, the Maldives and others, either as free gifts or on a commercial basis. It is not clear which of the two vaccines, Covishield or Covaxin, are being exported. Covaxin has yet to clear phase three trials. The results are expected in March. India vaccinated 1.58 million citizens in the first eight days of the vaccine roll-out, which is about 198,000 people per day. The country has a population of around 1.4 billion. Even if we increase the vaccination rate to a million per day, as was US President Joe Biden’s initial plan for his country, India will need 1,400 days or about 3.8 years – meaning, until 2024 – to vaccinate everyone. As of February 3, India had given at least one dose of the vaccine to 0.3 per cent of the population, compared to 14 per cent in Britain, 37 per cent in Israel and 8 per cent in the United States. India has allocated about 5.5 million doses to neighbouring countries, even though we have vaccinated just 4 million Indians. Apparently 60 countries have sought vaccines from India. There is no need for India to indulge in theatrical “vaccine diplomacy”. We have taken care of our health workers and police. Now, we should vaccinate our senior citizens, slum dwellers, villagers, farmers, and youngsters. They pay the taxes that fund the vaccine programme. At least 75 per cent of all Indian vaccines should be for the country. Modi’s mistake is in trying to turn India’s economy into a Chinese dragon Western nations have booked enough vaccine doses to cover their populations three to four times over. India has not covered our population even once. Rajendra Aneja, Mumbai