COVID: Vaccinating people in the world's most remote places

Medical staff who want to vaccinate the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of southeastern Turkey must be physically fit. Ensuring vaccinations in the mountain villages is particularly important, Dr. Zeynep Eralp told DW. "People often live close together, and an infection could spread quickly," she said. Also, people don't like going to hospitals, so "we have to go to them."

Many elderly people can't make the journey to a vaccination center. In the Maira Valley in the western Italian Alps, close to the border with France, doctors go from house to house to give residents older than 80 their COVID-19 shot. A blessing from the roadside Madonna is a bonus.

Carrying a single vial containing several doses of vaccine, this nurse is en route to Eagle, a town on the Yukon River in the US state of Alaska with fewer than 100 inhabitants. Indigenous people are prioritized in many immunization programs. Depending on where they live, the nearest health clinic can be far away.

Anselmo Tunubala washes his hands before vaccinating an elderly lady. Every day, the 49-year-old is out and about in the mountains of southwestern Colombia, telling people in the local language about the importance of a vaccination. He is a member of the Misak, many of whom are skeptical about vaccination because they tend to rely on traditional medicine and the guidance of religious leaders.

The men and women in the above photo walked up to four hours to get their coronavirus shot in the remote village of Nueva Colonia in central Mexico. They belong to the indigenous Wixarika people, perhaps better known under the name Huichol.

For her shot, Olga Pimentel simply pulled up her boat next to that of the vaccination team. The community of Nossa Senhora do Livramento on the Rio Negro in Brazil can only be reached by river. "Beautiful! It hardly hurt," the 72-year-old laughed and shouted, "Viva o SUS!" — "long live Brazil's public health service!"

For a long time, right-wing populist President Jair Bolsonaro campaigned against COVID-19 vaccinations in Brazil. But in the meantime, the campaign has taken off. Indigenous people and quilombolas, descendants of African slaves, were among the first to be vaccinated. Raimunda Nonata, 70, lives in a community without power so she got her shot by candlelight.

After their vaccination, an elderly woman and her daughter paddle away from the island of Bwama, the largest in Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda. The government in the central African country is trying to supply remote areas with the vaccine.

Another journey over the water — but his time, no boat. On the way to the village of Jari in Zimbabwe, this vaccination team had to navigate a flooded road. According to the African Union's health agency, Africa CDC, fewer than 1% of the population in Zimbabwe has been fully vaccinated to date. Medical staff came first.

Japan may have huge, sprawling cities, but many people also live in small, isolated villages with only a few hundred inhabitants — like here, in Kitaaiki. Residents who can't make it to the next city are happy to welcome the doctor and a vaccine at home.

Indonesia launched its vaccination campaign in January. From Banda Aceh, the medical team traveled via boat to remote islands. The vaccines in the cooler are so valuable that the team was accompanied by security personnel.

India has been hardest hit by the pandemic in recent weeks. In mid-March, medical personnel made their way to the village of Bahakajari on the Brahmaputra River, where a group of women registered for their COVID-19 shot. None wore face masks or kept a safe distance.