Largely cut off from the rest of the world, people living in the most remote areas of the Last Frontier are getting the COVID-19 vaccine due, in part, to the ingenuity and dedication of an all-female team of health care workers.
The team of one pharmacist, one medical doctor and two nurses traveled in one day by plane, sled and snowmobile to deliver the vaccine to people across rural northern Alaska.
At one point in the day, with only a few hours of daylight and in subzero temperatures, the team of women carried the COVID-19 vaccine off an Alaskan "bush plane," and onto a sled attached to a snowmobile.
After arriving by snowmobile at their location, a local villager pulled them the rest of the way to their rural village where elders waited to be vaccinated.
"It’s challenging getting the vaccine up here to begin with and then getting it out to the villages brings on a whole new set of challenges and logistical issues," one of the female health care workers, Meredith Dean, a 25-year-old resident pharmacist who is originally from Tennessee, said Friday on "Good Morning America." "Time is of the utmost importance."
To remove first post, remove entire topic.
yes cats not dogs were used to delivet vaccine...
Artic cat...
Largely cut off from the rest of the world, people living in the most remote areas of the Last Frontier are getting the COVID-19 vaccine due, in part, to the ingenuity and dedication of an all-female team of health care workers.
The team of one pharmacist, one medical doctor and two nurses traveled in one day by plane, sled and snowmobile to deliver the vaccine to people across rural northern Alaska.
At one point in the day, with only a few hours of daylight and in subzero temperatures, the team of women carried the COVID-19 vaccine off an Alaskan "bush plane," and onto a sled attached to a snowmobile.
After arriving by snowmobile at their location, a local villager pulled them the rest of the way to their rural village where elders waited to be vaccinated.
"It’s challenging getting the vaccine up here to begin with and then getting it out to the villages brings on a whole new set of challenges and logistical issues," one of the female health care workers, Meredith Dean, a 25-year-old resident pharmacist who is originally from Tennessee, said Friday on "Good Morning America." "Time is of the utmost importance."
A fleet of chartered plans has airlifted vials to villages. A water taxi drove doses through choppy seas. And in a nod to the Serum Run that delivered lifesaving diphtheria treatment to Nome a century ago, some of the clinicians giving shots in rural Alaska were even shuttled around villages on sleds pulled behind snow machines.
Those efforts have helped give Alaska one of the highest vaccination rates in the country with rural and Indigenous residents getting access to shots at levels that meet or even exceed those in Alaska's cities. Public health experts say that's appropriate because of tribes' federally recognized sovereignty and because COVID-19 has hit rural areas and Alaska Native people especially hard.
"One thing that a lot of us feel when we live and work out here is that we're a little bit forgotten," said Dr. Katrine Bengaard, one of the sled-borne rural Alaska vaccinators. "But with the way that this COVID vaccine has been distributed, we don't feel forgotten at all."
As in the rest of the country, Alaska's vaccine rollout has not been entirely smooth, with reports of computer problems and limited appointments as access expands beyond health care workers to the state's older residents.
If they get vaccine to residents in Alaska....
Planning in logistics is the key to a successful vaccination program. Maybe Biden could take notes of the extreme difficulty these men and women over came . when dealing with the snafu across our count ry.
A fleet of chartered plans has airlifted vials to villages. A water taxi drove doses through choppy seas. And in a nod to the Serum Run that delivered lifesaving diphtheria treatment to Nome a century ago, some of the clinicians giving shots in rural Alaska were even shuttled around villages on sleds pulled behind snow machines.
Those efforts have helped give Alaska one of the highest vaccination rates in the country with rural and Indigenous residents getting access to shots at levels that meet or even exceed those in Alaska's cities. Public health experts say that's appropriate because of tribes' federally recognized sovereignty and because COVID-19 has hit rural areas and Alaska Native people especially hard.
"One thing that a lot of us feel when we live and work out here is that we're a little bit forgotten," said Dr. Katrine Bengaard, one of the sled-borne rural Alaska vaccinators. "But with the way that this COVID vaccine has been distributed, we don't feel forgotten at all."
As in the rest of the country, Alaska's vaccine rollout has not been entirely smooth, with reports of computer problems and limited appointments as access expands beyond health care workers to the state's older residents.
If they get vaccine to residents in Alaska....
Planning in logistics is the key to a successful vaccination program. Maybe Biden could take notes of the extreme difficulty these men and women over came . when dealing with the snafu across our count ry.
As vaccinations have increased, cases have dropped. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s case rate is 23 cases per 100,000 people. It was 12.5 times higher than that at its peak, when the case rate hit 300 cases per 100,000 people in November 2020.
YKHC is distributing the vaccine across the region. While many areas of the nation are struggling to develop systems to disseminate the vaccine, the tribal health corporation already had one.
“We had the groundwork in place, so we have been distributing vaccines to rural clinics for decades,” Hodges said.
As vaccinations have increased, cases have dropped. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s case rate is 23 cases per 100,000 people. It was 12.5 times higher than that at its peak, when the case rate hit 300 cases per 100,000 people in November 2020.
YKHC is distributing the vaccine across the region. While many areas of the nation are struggling to develop systems to disseminate the vaccine, the tribal health corporation already had one.
“We had the groundwork in place, so we have been distributing vaccines to rural clinics for decades,” Hodges said.
As for vaccinations, YKHC reports that 65.9% of the eligible population is completely vaccinated against COVID-19, a 0.2% increase from last week. The state health department reports that 61.8% of all eligible Alaskans have completed a vaccine series. Nationwide, 67.9% of the population that is five or older is fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As for vaccinations, YKHC reports that 65.9% of the eligible population is completely vaccinated against COVID-19, a 0.2% increase from last week. The state health department reports that 61.8% of all eligible Alaskans have completed a vaccine series. Nationwide, 67.9% of the population that is five or older is fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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