The happy kingdom of Bhutan and the vaccination campaign of Covid-19 surpass the US and UK

How did Bhutan, one of Asia’s poorest countries, have Covid-19 vaccination rates ahead of both the US and UK with 93% of eligible adults receiving the first shot?
Even the most remote regions are not forgotten

Lunana is a remote and isolated land in Bhutan. This place is twice the size of New York City, including glaciers, some of the highest peaks in the world and not reachable by car. Even so, almost everyone living here has been vaccinated against Covid-19. A monk is vaccinated at a school in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, on the first day of the vaccination campaign. Photo: AFP The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine batch arrived last month by helicopter and was given injections by medical staff across the ice and snow to each village. “I was given the first shot to prove to others in the village that the vaccine was not fatal and safe. Then everyone got it,” said Pema, the village chief in Lunana. The Lunana campaign is part of a silent vaccination story in one of Asia’s poorest countries. On April 17, Bhutan, a kingdom that cares more about the happiness of its people than the nation’s prosperity, injected the first vaccine to more than 478,000 people, accounting for about 60% of the population. The Health Department said this month that more than 93% of eligible adults received the first shot. Helicopters deliver the vaccine to the remote mountains of Bhutan. Photo: Ministry of Health of Bhutan Most of Bhutan’s first Covid-19 vaccinations were vaccinated to people during the last week of March and the first weeks of April. On April 17, the country’s vaccination rate was 63 shots per 100 people. , ranked 6th in the world in immunization rates. Immunization rates in Bhutan are even ahead of the UK and US, seven times higher than neighboring India and nearly six times higher than global vaccination rates. Bhutan is also ahead of other geographically isolated countries with small populations, such as Iceland and the Maldives. Dasho Dechen Wangmo, Bhutan’s Health Minister, has contributed to this success by effectively implementing “leadership and direction” from the king, erasing people’s hesitations to vaccinate and promoting a The health care system “enables people in the most remote parts of the country to also receive needed services”. “As a country with a population of just over 750,000, a two-week campaign to vaccinate its citizens is possible. Despite some minor logistical problems we were able to deal with. “, Mr. Dechen Wangmo said. Peace Guardians All of these vaccines have so far been funded by the Indian government, produced at the Indian Serum Institute – the world’s largest vaccine production center. The government of Bhutan plans to give the population a second dose of vaccine 8 to 12 weeks after the first vaccination, according to the instructions for the AstraZeneca vaccine. Will Parks, Bhutan’s representative at UNICEF, said the first vaccination series was “a success” with participation from “top authorities to the local community”. The campaign was successful in part based on a team of volunteers, also known as the Peace Guardians, who worked under the direct direction of King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. In Lunana, eight volunteers set up field tents and helped transport oxygen cylinders from village to village, said Karma Tashi, a member of the government’s four-man vaccination team there. These oxygen cylinders are prepared to prevent the vaccinated person from having a disturbing reaction after the vaccination. To save time, Tashi said, the team had vaccinated during the day and walked at night, usually working 10-14 hours a day. According to Mr. Tashi, some people do not want to get vaccinated because they are busy with the crop or are concerned about a response after the vaccination, but after being convinced by the volunteers about the benefits of vaccination, everyone agrees Italy. On April 12, 464 out of 800 people in Lunana received the first shot of the vaccine. The population here includes a small number that do not qualify for the vaccine. No exception Medical care in Bhutan, an isolated country slightly larger than the US state of Maryland and bordering Tibet, is completely free. From 1960 to 2014, the average life expectancy of Bhutanese people doubled to 69.5 years old. The immune rate in recent years in this country is above 95%. People in Thimphu wear masks when going out on the street. Photo: AP However, Bhutan’s health system is barely self-sufficient as patients in need of special care are often sent to India or Thailand for government-paid treatment, Yot Teerawattananon, said a medical economist at the National University of Singapore. The Bhutan Government Committee will meet once a week to decide which patients need to be sent abroad for treatment. “I don’t think they can cope with the increase in the number of severe Covid-19 cases if that happens. So prioritizing vaccination is important,” the expert said. Bhutan currently records less than 1,000 Covid-19 cases and only 1 death. The country’s borders, which have been tightened by global standards even before the pandemic, have been closed for a year with almost no exception, with anyone coming on quarantine for 21 days. Even the country’s Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, who received his first shot last month, was quarantined after returning from a visit to Bangladesh./.