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Alaska tribal health groups distribute shots far, wide
Memories of past flu, tuberculosis spurs vaccination By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press
Published: April 24, 2021, 6:00am
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6 Photos In this undated photo, provided by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, shows a team from the tribal health organization posing outside a plane before leaving for a rural vaccination clinic in Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska. Some of Alaska s highest vaccination rates among those 16 or older have been in some of its remotest, hardest-to-access communities, where the toll of past flu or tuberculosis outbreaks hasn t been forgotten. (Tanana Chiefs Conference via AP) (Paul Apfelbeck/Galena Interior Learning Academy)
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) â John Waghiyi remembers rushing his cousin to the clinic in the Bering Sea city of Savoonga in December, worried he was having a possible heart attack while out butchering a bowhead whale. Waghiyi arrived to see elders waiting in the lobby for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Waghiyi, 66, said he joined them and got a shot before returning to the coast to help finish the whale harvest.
Elders, he said, have set the tone in the Alaska Native community of 735 on the coast of isolated St. Lawrence Island. Vaccination rates for eligible residents 16 or older are among the regionâs best, with over 80% having had at least one dose, according to the regional tribal health corporation.