Bhutan, the country that vaccinated more than half of its population in a week

As Ninda Dema rolled up her sleeves and folded her hands in prayer, she nervously smiled at the television cameras around her, aware that the entire population of the Himalayan nation of Bhutan was watching her from their homes.

On March 27, Dema, a 30-year-old administrative employee, received Bhutan’s first Covid-19 vaccine, which launches world’s fastest vaccination program.

About 62% of eligible Bhutanese citizens were vaccinated in just one week, surpassing the per capita vaccination and vaccination rate in major countries such as Great Britain, the United States and Chile.

Bhutan’s vaccination campaign is considered a global success. As of April 6, the country was behind Israel by just 0.3% in terms of the proportion of people who received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Israel currently has the highest vaccination score in the world.

“May this small step that I take help us overcome this disease,” said Dema upon receiving AstraZeneca injection, supplied by India.

Bhutan, one of the least developed countries in the world best known in the West for measuring progress through its unique Gross Internal Happiness Index, is an outlier of immunization. Until yesterday, nearly 469,664 of its total population of 735,553 had received a single dose of vaccine, 85% of its citizens, with children excluded.

Certainly, Bhutan’s small population size is a big plus in many other countries. But his success can also be attributed to its dedicated citizen volunteers, known as “De-mushroom”as well as good public health planning and a regional geopolitical struggle between New Delhi and Beijing.

Together, the De-mushroom They were able to deliver vaccines to health facilities, ensure citizens show up for appointments, and educate Bhutanese on Covid-19 protocols, including social distancing and wearing masks. His role has been invaluable in a country that had only 37 doctors and barely 3,000 full-time healthcare workers before the pandemic, as reported Reuters.

In the northwestern district of Gasa, where around 3,000 Bhutanese live in hillside villages, a team of four medical staff was accompanied by six people. De-mushroom, who work as local elementary school teachers, to navigate the desolate terrain.

With heavy boots commonly used by the armed forces and with emergency medical kits, the team was able to reach six villages in six days. And, when the snow made travel on foot impractical, authorities arranged helicopters to dispense doses.

“We are really grateful for the vaccine. Without the helicopter service, we would have had to travel more than five days (to get vaccinated), ”said Dema, a resident of Esuna village. Kuensel online.

Bhutan has also been able to build on its immunization program thanks to its “The cold chain”, one of his “most precious possessions,” according to Dasho Dechen Wangmo, the country’s health minister. “We reached universal immunization in the 90s and we have always had great success with vaccines.”, he pointed out.

“The current vaccination builds on existing programs, there were already many systems in place and this facilitated the introduction of a new vaccine through a lot of promotion and planning at the micro level,” he said. he adds.

Additionally, as part of a plan to counter China’s growing influence in the region, the country received 600,000 free doses of the AstraZeneca / University of Oxford vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, as a gesture of goodwill. Bhutan has also received test kits, personal protective equipment, N95 masks and essential drugs such as acetaminophen from New Delhi.

“New Delhi has made Bhutan a major target of its vaccine diplomacy”explained to The telegraph Michael Kugelman, Senior Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center. “This effort may be based on humanitarian concerns, but it is also a way to consolidate Indian influence at a time when China’s footprint is deepening in the region,” he added.

The Prime Minister of Bhutan, Dr Lotay Tshering, is a qualified medical practitioner and has led the country’s response.

When Bhutan detected its first case of Covid-19 in an American tourist in March 2020, closed its borders immediately (they remain closed to this day) and imposed a mandatory quarantine on residents returning from abroad.

To date, Bhutan has recorded just 886 coronavirus cases and reported only one death, using two carefully managed lockdowns.

“From day one we took it very seriously because in Bhutan we consider people’s health to be the most important thing. The whole country has mobilized under the leadership of the king and so far he has succeeded, ”he said. The telegraph former Bhutan Ambassador to the United Nations Lhatu Wangchuk.

“We are seeing a sense of relief among the people of Bhutan, although we cannot be too complacent until we receive our second injections,” he added.

“Until we are fully protected, we must all follow preventive measures, such as wearing masks, practicing physical distancing and washing our hands regularly,” said Group member Dr GP Dhakal. national immunization technical advisory (NI-TAG), at Flowering India.

THE NATION