Did India get its COVID vaccine strategy wrong?

India exported millions of COVID-19 vaccines even as it witnessed record numbers of cases in the past several weeks.

India on Saturday announced it will vaccinate everyone above the age of 18, covering about 600 million people, as it struggles to cope with a catastrophic second wave of coronavirus sweeping the world’s second-most populous nation. But there are few vaccines available to inoculate people, with experts criticising the government for a lack of preparedness in the fight against the virus that has killed nearly 40,000 people in April alone. More than 20 million Indians have now been infected as daily infection rates continue to break records. Public anger has been mounting against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for mishandling India’s worst health crisis since its independence in 1947.