Nomads receiving a questionnaire outside the mobile clinic. "Will they bring gasoline?" one herder asked a doctor. Photo / Maxim Babenko, The New York Times
Nomads receiving a questionnaire outside the mobile clinic. "Will they bring gasoline?" one herder asked a doctor. Photo / Maxim Babenko, The New York Times
Covid has reached even the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic. So vaccination teams are following, and finding ways to inoculate nomadic herders.
The Nenets are one of the few Indigenous minorities on the Yamal Peninsula in northwestern Siberia. Their lifestyle is nomadic, following the seasonal migrations of the reindeer theyherd.
While Covid brought travel to a halt in much of the world, the Nenets of Yamal kept moving. From December to April, the herders deploy their camps and pasture their reindeer in the Nadymski district, a region of about 40,000 square miles at the base of the Yamal Peninsula and centered on the city of Nadym. In mid-April, they begin "kaslanie," a season of nomadism, travelling with their herds about 645km up the peninsula and moving camp 30 to 100 times during the year.
Reindeer grazed near the nomads' camp in March. The herders travel distances of 120 to 900 miles each year during the nomadism period. Photo / Maxim Babenko, The New York Times
But the pandemic has reached even here. More than 100 new cases of the coronavirus are recorded in the region every day, as well as three to five deaths among infected patients.
"We learned about the coronavirus from TV, and most of the sick people were in cities and towns," said Ivan Khudi, a reindeer herder. "This trouble probably bypassed us due to our distance from civilisation. For example, I have been in 'self-isolation' for 61 years, since I was born."
Alexander, a reindeer herder, back from a fishing trip. "Before this whole pandemic," he said, "people from the city came to me much more often for fish." Photo / Maxim Babenko, The New York Times
Now vaccination has arrived, too. Many herders pitch their camps — small clusters of chums, traditional tents somewhat resembling Native American tepees and outfitted with electric generators and satellite dishes tuned to Russian TV stations — along the snow-covered highway that runs, with no turns or exits, the 320km between Nadym and Salekhard. Medical buses with doctors and nurses move along the highway, stopping at opportune points to vaccinate willing herders. More than 135,000 people in Yamal have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, including about 56 per cent of eligible adults.
A man undergoes a medical examination at a mobile vaccination site. Photo / Maxim Babenko, The New York Times
In late February, a vaccination point was set up not far from Khudi's camp. The site consisted of several mobile medical units. In one, a medical inspection was being carried out; in others, vaccinations. Nearby, in tarpaulin tents, tundra residents filled out questionnaires and, after being vaccinated, sipped hot tea.
"Will they bring gasoline?" one man asked. Fuel holds tremendous value for nomadic people, and gasoline sales points are sometimes organised nearby. In an area next to the vaccination point, a paediatrician was examining children. Tundra residents don't often have the opportunity to bring their child to a doctor, so the presence of a paediatrician is a draw as well.
Although some were resistant to the vaccination, dozens received the shot by day's end. "We live in the tundra," one man said. "Why do we need this?" Photo / Maxim Babenko, The New York Times
Vaccination is not unfamiliar to the herders. In August 2016, an abnormal heat wave led to an anthrax outbreak in Yamal that killed 2,000 reindeer and one boy, and hospitalised dozens of people. Every March since then, reindeer and people in Yamal are vaccinated against the disease.
Alexander in his chum. He mostly fishes for a living now, among others like him who are less nomadic. Photo / Maxim Babenko, The New York Times
Some herders at the Covid vaccination site were cool to the idea of getting the shot. "We live in the tundra," one man said. "Why do we need this? I brought my wife to the vaccination, but I won't be vaccinated myself."
Nevertheless, by day's end, dozens of people had been vaccinated. In the evening, the medics drove back to Nadym, to head out the next day to another point on the tundra highway.
Children watching cartoons. "We learned about the coronavirus from TV," one herder said, "and most of the sick people were in cities and towns." Photo / Maxim Babenko, The New York Times
"We are conducting colossal explanatory work among the inhabitants of the tundra," a nurse from Nadym said. "But there are still many people who are not eager to be vaccinated, and this situation is very difficult to reverse."
