Bhutan begins biggest vaccination drive against COVID-19 reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A health worker inoculates a dose of a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine to a Buddhist monk sitting in front of a portrait of Bhutan s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (top C) during the first day of vaccination in Bhutan, at Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary school in Thimphu on March 27, 2021. Photo by UPASANA DAHAL/AFP via Getty Images
The small Himalayan nation of Bhutan has vaccinated almost its entire adult population in just 16 days.
The country began vaccinating people on March 27, after receiving 150,000 doses from India in January.
The government conferred with Buddhist monks who advised officials to wait for more favorable conditions.
But those fears have proved unfounded in the Himalayan country of Bhutan, where an already impressive pandemic response has been followed by a speedy Covid jabs rollout.
Perhaps best known until now for pioneering the concept of the “national happiness index”, Bhutan is gaining renown among health experts for a world-leading inoculation campaign that has seen just under 500,000 coronavirus vaccine doses administered to the country’s 763,000-strong population, according to latest Oxford University tracking.
That equates to a vaccination rate of more than 62 doses per 100 people - the sixth highest in the world.
Bhutan was given 150,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine by the Indian government in January, but rather than rushing ahead with the rollout, the leaders of the Buddhist nation “decided to consult the stars” in order to build public trust in the vaccines, ABC News reports.
Bhutan went from no jabs to being a world leader in COVID-19 vaccine rollout in three weeks. Here's how they did it msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.