Slow COVID-19 Vaccination : YEMEN

In al-Thawra hospital in the disputed Yemeni city of Taiz, a nurse with no face mask or protective gear inoculates the few people who have shown interest in the COVID-19 vaccine.

She picks an AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vial from a cooler box, warms it with her hands and invokes the name of god before injecting the shot into a man's left arm.

Yemen has received 360,000 doses from the global COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme, yet many Yemenis seem reluctant to get inoculated on religious grounds, due to distrust of the vaccine, or because of the dangers of war. read more

"We have received 70,000 doses in Taiz and we started the vaccination campaign on April 21," Rajeh al-Maliki, head of Yemen's health ministry in Taiz.

"We can fairly say that there is very little interest ... we have distributed around 500 shots since we started, it is less than we expected," Maliki said.

There has been a dramatic spike in infections in Yemen this year, straining a health system already battered by war, economic collapse and a shortfall in aid funding.

The Iranian-aligned Houthi movement, which controls most of northern Yemen and parts of Taiz, has been battling the Saudi-backed government since 2014. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions rely on aid to survive.

Maliki and other doctors said many Yemenis, including medical staff, believe the vaccine would break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

Checkpoints and snipers in the heavily militarised city make it impossible for many residents to reach hospitals, they said.

People living in Houthi-controlled neighbourhoods have to travel around 50 km (30 miles) to avoid front lines and reach the main government-controlled hospital.

"I got infected by coronavirus, I took natural herbs and spices that our ancestors used. I was well again," said Ali Abdou, a 55-year-old Taiz resident.

"We work very hard with our bodies and it gives us strong immunity, one of us dies only when his time has come. Those rare diseases only affect the rich and we are not among them," Abdou said.

Mohammed Muthana, another resident, said he will wait until officials and doctors take the vaccine before he can trust it.

In al-Thawra hospital, doctor Sarah Damaj has been trying to convince Yemenis the vaccine is safe and does not break the fast.

At least 11 people drowned Sunday when a rubber dinghy carrying two dozen Europe-bound migrants capsised off Libya, the U.N. migration agency said.

It was the latest shipwreck involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe.

The International Organization for Migration said the tragedy took place near the western town of Zawiya. The Libyan coast guard saved the lives of 12 migrants, it said. Those migrants were expected to be taken to a detention center.

Sunday’s deadly shipwreck was the latest along the Central Mediterranean migration route. Last month, at least 130 migrants were presumed dead after their boat capsized off Libya, in one of the deadliest maritime tragedies in years along the busy route.

“The continuous loss of life calls for an urgent change in approach to the situation in Libya and the Central Med.,” the IOM said in a Twitter post.

Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

There has been a spike in crossings and attempted crossings from Libya in recent weeks. Around 7,000 Europe-bound migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya so far this year, according to the IOM's tally.

Smugglers often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber boats that stall and founder along the perilous Central Mediterranean route. Over the last several years, hundreds of thousands of migrants have reached Europe either on their own or after being rescued at sea.

Thousands have drowned along the way. Others were intercepted and returned to Libya to be left at the mercy of armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers that lack adequate food and water, according to rights groups.