Montana tribe gifts vaccines to neighbours across the border
by Iris Samuels, The Associated Press
Posted May 5, 2021 1:04 am EDT
Last Updated May 5, 2021 at 1:11 am EDT
In this Wednesday, April 28, 2021, photo, Blackfeet tribe nurses take a brief break from administering COVID-19 vaccines at the Piegan-Carway U.S. Customs and Border Protection border port of entry between Montana and Canada, near Babb, Mont. The Blackfeet tribe gave out surplus vaccines to its First Nations relatives and others from across the border. (AP Photo/Iris Samuels)
BABB, Mont. On a cloudy spring day, hundreds lined up in their cars on the Canadian side of the border crossing that separates Alberta and Montana. They had driven for hours and camped out in their vehicles in hopes of receiving the season’s hottest commodity a COVID-19 vaccine from a Native American tribe that was giving out its excess doses.
In this Thursday, April 29, 2021, photo, Roberta Wagner, foreground, a health clinic administrator for the Blackfeet tribe, prepares COVID-19 vaccine doses to be administered to Canadian residents at the Piegan-Carway border crossing near Babb, Mont. The Blackfeet tribe gave out surplus vaccines in April to its First Nations relatives and others from across the border. (AP Photo/Iris Samuels) Iris Samuels
BABB â On a cloudy spring day, hundreds lined up in their cars on the Canadian side of the border crossing that separates Alberta and Montana. They had driven for hours and camped out in their vehicles in hopes of receiving the season s hottest commodity â a COVID-19 vaccine â from a Native American tribe that was giving out its excess doses.
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US tribe shares vaccine with relatives, neighbors in Canada
IRIS SAMUELS, Associated Press/Report for America
May 5, 2021
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1of15In this Thursday, April 29, 2021, photo, Canadians drive-in at the Piegan-Carway border to receive a COVID-19 from the Blackfeet tribe near Babb, Mont. The Chief Mountain, sacred to the Blackfeet tribe towers, are seen in the background. The Blackfeet tribe gave out surplus vaccines to its First Nations relatives and others from across the border.Iris Samuels/APShow MoreShow Less
2of15In this Wednesday, April 28, 2021, photo, Blackfeet tribe nurses take a brief break from administering COVID-19 vaccines at the Piegan-Carway U.S. Customs and Border Protection border port of entry between Montana and Canada, near Babb, Mont. The Blackfeet tribe gave out surplus vaccines to its First Nations relatives and others from across the border.Iris Samuels/APShow MoreShow Less
More than 95% of the Blackfeet reservation’s roughly 10,000 residents who are eligible for the vaccine are fully immunized, after the state prioritized Native American communities – among the most vulnerable US populations – in the early stages of its vaccination campaign.
The tribe received vaccine allotments both from the Montana health department and the federal Indian Health Service, leaving some doses unused. With an expiration date fast approaching, it turned to other nations in the Blackfoot Confederacy, which includes the Blackfeet and three tribes in southern Alberta that share a language and culture.
“The idea was to get to our brothers and sisters that live in Canada,” said Robert DesRosier, emergency services manager for the Blackfeet tribe. “And then the question came up – what if a nontribal member wants a vaccine? Well, this is about saving lives. We’re not going to turn anybody away.”