Covid-19: Big miracle in tiny Bhutan
India TodayOn July 27th, 2021, newspapers in Bhutan reported that most of its adult population had been fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus. According to AFP — Unicef's Bhutan representative, Will Parks, hailed the vaccination drive as a "great success story for Bhutan" It is indeed a success story, almost a miraculous one because the tiny kingdom had to not only procure every shot of vaccine from donor countries but then also had to ensure its distribution across a sparsely populated but treacherous terrain mostly made up of steep and high mountains crisscrossed by swift rivers and deep valleys. So to facilitate the vaccination drive Bhutan called in thousands of Desuups or citizen volunteers who in their trademark orange jumpsuits were deployed to deliver vaccines across the country and to ensure that people came for their shots. At the beginning of April when India halted vaccine exports, 64% of Bhutanese above the age of 18 had already received 1 dose of Covishield and Bhutan had to quickly figure out how and where to get the second dose for these people, to be able to meet the optimum time gap between doses. With a mishmash of vaccines coming in Bhutan now decided to follow a heterologous regime where after the first shot of Covishield people would receive a second shot of a different vaccine.