Former United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki Moon described the adoption in 2015 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as “a defining moment in human history” (1). World leaders had committed to a 15-year global action plan to end poverty, reduce inequalities, protect the environment, and build peaceful societies. Five years since that commitment, the COVID-19 pandemic upended the global order; countries closed borders and instituted lockdown measures, severely and adversely impacting lives and livelihoods everywhere. Governments are now confronted with a massive health crisis, a socioeconomic crisis, and geopolitical rivalry. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates, global output and global trade contracted by 3.5 percent and 9.6 percent respectively in 2020 (2). IMF projects a recovery based on additional policy support in large economies and a strengthening of economic activity on the back of a successful roll-out of vaccines, but global activity is likely to remain below pre-COVID-19 levels and the strength of the projected recovery will vary across countries. The most severe impact of the pandemic was on jobs and livelihoods. According to International Labour Organisation estimates, about 5.4 percent of global working hours were lost in the first quarter of 2020, equivalent to 155 million full-time jobs (3). Even a stronger-than-expected recovery will not lead to a complete restoration of all jobs lost during the pandemic. In developing countries, a substantial proportion of workers are employed in the informal sector and lack social protection and income support measures, and as a result, many households risk falling into poverty. The pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to the sustainable development agenda. Many of the gains made in recent decades in the areas of health, education, hunger and poverty are being offset by the pandemic. For instance, the UN estimates that nearly 71 million people were pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 (4). Not only has COVID-19 set back efforts to realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but there is also little clarity on what kind of global order will emerge in the aftermath of the pandemic. Economic nationalism and trade protectionism is on the rise, and even UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has criticised such actions, saying “The pandemic is a clear test of international cooperation — a test we have essentially failed (5).” Long before the COVID-19 vaccinations had completed clinical trials, several advanced countries like the US, UK, Japan, Canada and the European Union (EU) had procured millions of doses of the vaccines. Developed countries are prioritising their vaccination programmes while many of the poorest countries are struggling to procure vaccine doses. Long hailed as the ‘pharmacy of the world’, India is exporting vaccines as grants to poor countries under its ‘Vaccine Maitri’ programme (6). As a developing country with a large population, India is facing numerous challenges in the wake of the pandemic. Yet it came forward to help other countries and supplied food aid to African countries and essential medicines, test kits and other equipment to over 90 countries.
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