Headline, April 26 2021/ ''' '' BHUTAN -WORLD'S- BANNER '' '''

''' '' BHUTAN 

-WORLD'S- BANNER '' '''

THE WORLD STUDENTS SOCIETY - FOR EVERY SUBJECT AND HONOR in the world, belongs to every student of Bhutan. Just as it belongs to every student in the world : '' Peace -OneShare- Piece ''.

BHUTAN : A TINY KINGDOM OUT-VACCINATED THE WORLD. Bhutan's health teams have reached even the most remote villages. And this is how, Bhutan accomplished this great service and honor.

The Lunana area of Bhutan is remote even by the standards of an isolated Himalayan kingdom : it covers an area about twice the size of New York City, borders far western China, includes glacial lakes and some of the world's highest peaks, and is inaccessible by car.

Vials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arrived last month by a helicopter and were distributed to health workers who walked from village to village through snow and ice. Vaccinations proceeded in the area's 13 settlements even after yaks damaged some of the field tents that volunteers had set up for patients,

The campaign is part of a quiet vaccine story in one of Asia's poorest countries. As of last Saturday, Bhutan, a Buddhist kingdom that has emphasized its citizens' well being over national prosperity, had administered a first vaccine dose of more than 478,000 people, over 60 percent of its population.

The Health Ministry said this month that more than 93 percent of eligible adults had received their first shots.

The vast majority of Bhutan's first doses were administered at about 1,200 vaccination centers over a weeklong period in late March and early April, As of Saturday, thee country's vaccination rate of 63 doses per 100 people was the sixth highest in the world, according to a New York Times database.

The rate was ahead of those of Britain and the United States, more than seven times that of neighboring India and nearly six times the global average. Bhutan is also ahead of several other geographically isolated countries with small populations, including Iceland and the Maldives.

Dasho Decehen Wangmo - Bhutan's health minister, attributed its success to ''leadership and guidance'' from the country's king, public solidarity, a general absence of vaccine hesitancy, and a primary health care system that 'enabled us to take the services even to the most remote parts of the country.''

''Being a small country with a population of just over 750,000, a two-week vaccination campaign was doable,'' Ms. Dechen Wangmo said in an email. ''Minor logistic issues were faced during the vaccination but were all manageable.''

All of the doses used so far were donated by the government of India, where the drug is known as Covishield and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine producer.

Will Parks, the representative in Bhutan for UNICEF , the United Nations agency for children, said the first round was a ''success story, not only in terms of the coverage but also in the way the vaccination drive was executed collectively from the planning to the implementation.

''It involved participation from the highest authority to local community,'' he said.

Health care in Bhutan, a landlocked country that is slightly smaller than Switzerland, and borders Tibet, is free. Between 1960 and 2014 , life expectancy there more than doubled, to 69.5 years, according to the World Health Organization. Immunization levels in recent years have been above 95 percent.

Last year, the drama ''Launana : A Yak in the Classroom'' became the second film ever selected to represent Bhutan at the Academy Awards. It was filmed using solar batteries, and its cast included local villagers.

Lunana's headman, Kaku, who goes by one name, said the most important part of the vaccination campaign was not on the ground but in the sky.

''If there hadn't been a chopper,'' he said, ''getting the vaccines would have been an issue, since there's no access road.''

The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Bhutan and other, Unique Countries, continues. The World Students Society thanks authors Chencho Dema and Mike Ives.

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Grandparents, Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of Bhutan and then the world. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

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