‘We have 30 doses… we need two million’: The mountain kingdom left behind in the race to vaccinate the world
There is an old, corrugated hanger in the centre of Maseru, the diminutive capital of the kingdom of Lesotho and through the doors we could hear the words of prayer.
Inside, amongst the wings and tails of several brightly coloured aeroplanes, there were medics and mechanics getting themselves ready for the day ahead.
Lesotho’s Flying Doctor Services serve 11 isolated clinics in this rugged and impoverished nation.
The government-run unit is assisted by a Christian charity called the Mission Aviation Fellowship and together they provide medical services and emergency treatment to communities that are completely inaccessible by road.
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The flying doctors unit, helped by a Christian charity, delivers a small batch of vaccines to a community called Kuebunyani
Yet the team that runs this service has been presented with a new and weighty task.
As COVID-19 spreads and mutates in southern Africa, its members have been asked to deliver and administer vaccines to much of the nation.
Lesotho acquired a batch of 36,000 AstraZeneca vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX facility in March and health workers were prioritised for their first dose.
The French government donated an additional consignment to ensure they are fully protected but the vast majority of 2.2 million Basothos have yet to receive a vaccine.
The flying doctors are doing what they can and we followed them for the day as they delivered a small batch of vaccines to a community called Kuebunyani.
It was a complicated trip as the pilot had to pick up a box of AstraZeneca vaccines in another community, called Thaba Tskeko. Its hospital still had a few vials left.
Flying Doctor Services’ medic, Dr Justin Cishiya, talks to Sky’s John Sparks
“How many vaccines have you got now,” I asked the Flying Doctor Services medic, Dr Justin Cishiya.
“For now we are having 30 doses.”
“How many are you going to need in total?”
“In total, we will need, let me estimate, two million doses.”
We strapped our precious box in the back of the plane and headed east in the direction of Kuebunyani.
Kuebunyani clings to the slopes of the Maloti range and the pilot had to negotiate its rudimentary airstrip
This district of some 10,000 people clings to the slopes of the Maloti range and the pilot had to negotiate its rudimentary airstrip.
Our cargo was then handed over to a nurse called Paul Enock.
“How many people have been vaccinated here so far?” I asked.
Lesotho’s Flying Doctor Services serve 11 isolated clinics in the rugged and impoverished nation
“So far 73, yes, mostly the village health workers and the health centre committee and some of our staff members.”
“You are going to need a lot more,” I said.
“Yes, especially for the people (who live) here, yes.”
Lesotho acquired a batch of 36,000 AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX scheme
It may be an isolated spot but the message has gone out about COVID-19 as the third wave of infection begins to take hold in Africa.
Cases are on an upward trend in 14 countries and in the past week, new cases rose by more than 30% in eight countries.
In Kuebunyani, we watched as local residents begin to congregate. Some had left their homes the day before to reach the clinic.
One doctor said Lesotho needs an estimated two million vaccines
I stopped a 77-year old called Frank Molefi.
“Why do you want to get a COVID vaccine?” I asked.
“It is you (the health workers) who told me to come here,” he said, bursting into laughter.
“Do you think the virus could come here to the mountains?”
People in Kuebunyani receive the vaccine
“Here? Of course, it will come here because human beings live here.”
Several village health workers, a local official and a handful of senior citizens with chronic conditions were offered these precious vaccines and one man told us he felt fortunate to receive one.
The supply of vaccines to Africa has ground to a halt with the India-based makers of the AstraZeneca vaccine now concentrating production at home.
The distribution of Johnson & Johnson vaccines has been blocked after a batch was contaminated in the United States.
Sky News understands there are one million J&J vaccines “ready to be shipped within an hour” from a factory in neighbouring South Africa but the manufacturer cannot get clearance to move them.
Only 1% of the public has been inoculated in sub-Saharan Africa
In response the World Health Organisation and others are pleading with wealthy nations to move immediately and donate their stocks.
Seven countries have said they will make contributions via COVAX but only France has actually delivered the goods.
As we left Kuebunyani we asked an administrative nurse, Mampho Leleka, what she thought of the discrepancy in vaccines between rich and poor countries.
“We are not comfortable, it is not fair at all. It has to be rolled out as (quickly) as possible because this pandemic is killing people.”
This mountain kingdom – like much of Africa – has been left behind in the race to vaccinate the public.
Only 1% of the public has been inoculated in sub-Saharan Africa. But this shapeshifting virus is encircling the world and the protection of Basothos should become everyone’s responsibility.
World
Afghanistan: Three British men being held in Taliban custody – including ‘danger tourist’ who returned after army evacuation
Three British men are being held in Taliban custody in Afghanistan – including so-called “danger tourist” Miles Routledge who returned to the country after being evacuated by British armed forces less than two years ago.
The other two men are charity medic Kevin Cornwell and another unnamed UK national who manages a hotel in Kabul. They are believed to have been held by Taliban secret police since January.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said: “We are working hard to secure consular contact with British nationals detained in Afghanistan and we are supporting families.”
Mr Routledge, 23, has gained fame – and attracted controversy – by travelling to dangerous countries and posting about it online.
In August 2021 he was on a “holiday” in Afghanistan when he was caught up in the chaos in the capital as the Taliban took control of the country.
He chose the war-torn country having looked up a list of the most dangerous places to visit in the world, despite the Taliban taking control of more and more of the country at the time.
Mr Routledge thanked the British Army after he was among those evacuated during the Kabul airlift.
He appears to have returned to the country since then.
Kevin Cornwell has been held since January
Read more:
Woman fears for her life if she is sent back to Afghanistan
Taliban leader tells officials to sack their sons
Mr Cornwell, 53, was arrested at his hotel by officers from the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) on 11 January.
He is accused of having an illegal firearm in the safe in his room, but his family say he had been granted a licence for the firearm.
The FCDO continues to advise UK citizens against all travel to Afghanistan based on the security risks involved, including the possibility of detention by the Taliban authorities.
Two women in Iran who went into a store while not fully covering their hair had yoghurt thrown over them by a man, in an incident captured on video.
CCTV footage showing the “yoghurt attack”, believed to have taken place in the city of Shandiz in northeast Iran, has been spreading on social media.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi insisted that the hijab is the law in the country, in response to the widely shared clip.
It shows a man in a chequered shirt getting increasingly animated as he speaks to one of the women.
He is then seen grabbing a pot of what is believed to be yoghurt and throwing it over the pair before being confronted by another man and pushed out of the store.
Read more on Iran:
Shotgun pellets in activist’s back won’t end fight for freedom
Following the incident, the two women have been arrested for not covering their hair, according to judicial authorities.
The man has also been arrested for insulting the women, public disorder and “unconventional promotion of virtue”.
Authorities said the owner of the dairy shop, who confronted the attacker, had also been warned.
Reports on social media showed his shop had been shut, although he was quoted by a local news agency as saying he had been allowed to reopen and was due to “give explanations” to a court.
President Raisi said: “If some people say they don’t believe [in the hijab]… it’s good to use persuasion…
“But the important point is that there is a legal requirement… and the hijab is today a legal matter.”
Women in Iran had already been warned by the regime’s judiciary chief that they will be prosecuted “without mercy” if they are seen in public without a veil.
Following protests in recent months, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Saturday: “Unveiling is tantamount to enmity with [our] values.
“Those who commit such anomalous acts will be punished and will be prosecuted without mercy.”
Iran has been rocked by huge waves of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in September.
The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman died while in the custody of Iran’s morality police.
Women will be prosecuted “without mercy” if they are seen in public without a veil, Iran’s judiciary chief has warned.
Following protests in recent months, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Saturday: “Unveiling is tantamount to enmity with [our] values.
“Those who commit such anomalous acts will be punished and will be prosecuted without mercy.”
He did not specify what the punishment would be, but violations of state laws on hijabs have seen people face arrest, fines, imprisonment and even the death sentence.
Women across the country have been refusing to wear their headscarves following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September.
Ms Amini had been arrested for allegedly breaking the law on headscarves and died in police custody.
Mahsa Amini’s death sparked protests in Iran
Nationwide street protests were met with a severe police crackdown.
Human Rights Activists, a group that has been tracking the crackdown from inside Iran, has reported more than 19,700 people being arrested during the demonstrations.
Another group, Iran Human Rights (IHR) estimates that 500 of them, including 70 minors, were killed by the regime.
Previously, Mr Ejei said that 22,000 people arrested during recent protests have now been pardoned.
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Iran protesters speak about punishment
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200 shotgun pellets buried in activist’s back
Iranian actress posts picture without headscarf
Iranian women have now moved their fight online, with many posting videos of themselves with their hair and bodies exposed.
Under Iran’s Islamic Sharia law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures.
Describing the veil as “one of the civilisational foundations of the Iranian nation” and “one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic,” the interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday that there would be no “retreat or tolerance” on the issue.
The authorities are encouraging people to confront women who break hijab laws – something that has previously seen religious extremists physically attack them in public.
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