In Pictures

Gallery|Coronavirus pandemic

Photos: How COVID vaccine travelled 1,700km to an Indian village

Tracking journey of vaccine taken by plane, truck and van from factory to clinic in tribal hamlet in Odisha state.

A van delivers the vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca at Mathalput Community Health Centre in Koraput. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Published On 27 Jan 2021

Reena Jani rose early, finished her chores in the crisp January cold and walked uphill to the road skirting her remote tribal hamlet of Pendajam in eastern India’s Odisha state.

Riding pillion on a neighbour’s motorcycle for 40 minutes through hillsides dotted with paddy fields, the 34-year-old health worker headed for the Mathalput Community Health Centre.

Jani’s name was on a list of 100 health workers at the centre, making her one of the first Indians to be inoculated against COVID-19 earlier this month, as the country rolled out a vaccination programme the government calls the world’s biggest.

But she had heard rumours of serious side effects and worried about what would happen were she to get ill.

“I was frightened because of my son and daughters. If something happens to me, what will they do?” Jani told Reuters news agency, visibly relieved after the injection produced no immediate side effects.

The vaccine she received had travelled much further. It was taken by plane, truck and van, some 1,700 km (1,056 miles) from the factory to the clinic where Jani waited, and it had to be kept cold the whole way.

The 1.5 million people vaccinated so far, mainly targeting key workers like Jani, are a tiny first phase of a vaccine programme that India hopes will eventually protect its 1.4 billion people from the coronavirus.

Only when the much larger third phase is launched, aimed at 270 million people deemed vulnerable, will the government know if its plan to distribute shots across sometimes hostile terrain and amid high temperatures will succeed.

“The problem will start from the third phase when the public will start coming,” said Madhusudan Mishra, Koraput’s district collector. “That will be a real challenge.”

Supplying vaccines is one thing. Convincing people to take them is another.

Scepticism about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 shots is high in India, particularly in rural areas, officials say, and misinformation via social media platforms and word-of-mouth could undermine the effort.

The COVID-19 vaccine Jani took was developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. India is also using another developed by Bharat Biotech.

The deployment comes as the number of coronavirus cases in India approached 11 million and deaths exceeded 150,000.

Reena Jani, 34, speaks to one of her patients who is pregnant in Pendajam village in Koraput. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, about seven years ago. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
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A woman carries a boy in Pendajam village. Jani said she helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Jani rides on her neighbour's motorcycle as she travels to Mathalput Community Health Centre to receive the vaccine. Jani's name was on a list of 100 health workers at Mathalput Community Health Centre, making her one of the first Indians to be inoculated against COVID-19 earlier this month. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Lalu Porija, a health department driver, transports the vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca from the state store to a regional one, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. 'I am feeling a little tired,' said Porija who negotiating cows, debris, thick fog and hairpin bends, and fighting fatigue, drove nearly 24 hours within three days to collect and deliver the vaccine shots to Koraput town. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
A health department truck waits in a traffic jam as it transports the vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
A health department driver washes a vaccine van before transporting the shots to various vaccination centres from a regional store, in Koraput. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
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A health department employee counts vials of the vaccine as she prepares to pack them up to be transported. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Jani's daughter Ramishi, 13, tries to find signal on her phone so she can ring her mother the day before she is vaccinated. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
A policeman stands guard as health workers pack up the vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca before being transported to various vaccination centres from a regional vaccine store. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Jani arrives at Mathalput Community Health Centre on her neighbour's motorcycle to receive the vaccine. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Jani receiving the vaccine at Mathalput Community Health Centre. She heard rumours of serious side effects and she worried about what would happen were she to get ill. 'I was frightened because of my son and daughters. If something happens to me, what will they do?' said Jani, visibly relieved after the injection produced no immediate side effects. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Healthcare workers wait to receive vaccine during COVID-19 vaccination campaign, at Mathalput Community Health Centre in the remote Koraput district of the eastern state of Odisha. In the first phase of India's vaccination campaign, which got under way earlier this month, the target is 10 million healthcare workers. Next are 20 million essential services workers, followed by 270 million people deemed susceptible to the coronavirus. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]