Rollout of Covid vaccine in Bhutan almost complete in 16 days

Photographer: Upasana Dahal / AFP / Getty Images

Thimpu, Bhutan (AP) – When plotted on a graph, Bhutan’s COVID-19 vaccination urge curve shoots up from day one, traversing Israel, the United States, Bahrain, and other countries known for fast vaccinating people.

Those countries took months to get to where they are, and scrupulously intensified their vaccination campaigns in the face of increasing coronavirus cases. But the story of the vaccination campaign in Bhutan is almost over – just 16 days after it began.

Sandwiched between India and China, the tiny kingdom of the Himalayas has inoculated nearly 93% of the adult population since March

27. In total, the country has vaccinated 62% of its 800,000 people.

The rapid rollout of the vaccine places the small country just behind Seychelles, which has injected 66% of its population of nearly 100,000 people.

Its small population helped Bhutan move quickly, but its success has also been attributed to its dedicated civilian volunteers, known as “desuups,” and the established cold chain storage used during previous vaccination campaigns.

Bhutan received its first 150,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from neighboring India in January, but the shots were circulated from the end of March to coincide with auspicious dates in Buddhist astrology.

The first dose was administered by and given to a woman born in the Year of the Monkey, accompanied by chants of Buddhist prayers.

“Let this small step of mine today help all of us overcome this disease,” said the recipient, 30-year-old Ninda Dema, in the Kuensel newspaper.