Late last month, a news report showcased India’s despatch of 100,000 doses of the indigenous Covaxin to Paraguay, a tiny country wedged between Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina. The curious part is India does not have an embassy there, only an honorary consul who is a Paraguayan national. Clearly, if the country does not merit an embassy, it’s not that important for Delhi, yet it merited a shipment of the vaccine. It seems Taiwan, which has diplomatic ties with Paraguay, did the heavy lifting and persuaded the Ministry of External Affairs to send the consignment.
