The launch of Bhutan covide vaccines has been done in almost 16 days

Photographer: Upasana Dahal / AFP / Getty Images

Thimpu, Bhutan (AP) – When plotted on a graph, the curve of Bhutan’s COVID-19 vaccine shoots up from day one, crossing Israel, the United States, Bahrain and other countries known to vaccinate people quickly.

These countries took months to get where they are, meticulously stepping up their vaccination campaigns against rising coronavirus cases. But the history of Bhutan’s vaccination campaign is almost over, just 16 days after it began.

The small Himalayan kingdom coined between India and China has vaccinated almost 93% of its adult population since March

27. Overall, the country has vaccinated 62% of its 800,000 people.

The rapid deployment of the vaccine puts the small nation just behind the Seychelles, which has hit 66% of its population, with nearly 100,000 people.

Its small population helped Bhutan move forward rapidly, but its success has also been attributed to its dedicated citizen volunteers, known as ‘desuups’, and established the storage of the cold chain used during the first vaccination exercises.

Bhutan received the first 150,000 doses of neighboring India’s AstraZeneca vaccine in January, but the shots were distributed in late March coinciding with auspicious dates in Buddhist astrology.

The first dose was administered and given to a woman born in the year of the monkey, accompanied by songs of Buddhist prayers.

“May this little step of mine today help us all prevent this disease,” said recipient Ninda Dema, 30, quoted by the country’s Kuensel newspaper.