TY - JOUR T1 - Bhutan’s experience with COVID-19 vaccination in 2021 JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005977 VL - 6 IS - 5 SP - e005977 AU - Thinley Dorji AU - Saran Tenzin Tamang Y1 - 2021/05/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/6/5/e005977.abstract N2 - Summary boxCOVID-19 has caused a major socioeconomic impact on the lives of people in Bhutan, a landlocked nation situated in the eastern Himalayas.The pandemic has led to the closure of its international border, restriction on cross-border trade, closure of businesses, schools and colleges, and restrictions on social gatherings.Bhutan has reported 957 cases of COVID-19 with one death as of 18 April 2021.Despite limitations of resources and experiences, Bhutan has achieved good control of the pandemic through its unique public health approaches.Bhutan vaccinated 94% of its adult population with COVID-19 vaccine within a span of two weeks in April 2021.This achievement comes at the backdrop of Bhutan’s well-established primary healthcare and vaccination systems.However, the country now faces the daunting task of preventing complacency in physical distancing measures, hand washing and use of face mask by the public in a background of the rapid spread of new strains of SARS-CoV-2.As of April 2021, COVID-19 cases continue to rise globally and in the South Asia region causing devastating morbidity, mortality and disruption of socioeconomic life. Apart from public health measures to prevent spread of COVID-19, significant investment has been made to develop, test and roll out vaccines. Modelling studies predict significant reduction in overall attack rates by SARS-CoV-2 through use of effective COVID-19 vaccines, with the highest relative reduction among older adults (aged 65 years and older), reduction of intensive care admissions and deaths.1As of 18 April 2021, 14 vaccines have been approved for human use by at least one country2 and 890 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally.3 In the South Asia region, the Oxford-AstraZeneca (COVISHIELD) vaccine manufactured in India has been made available through the COVAX Facility.2 As of 18 April 2021, 122 million doses (7.9% of the … ER -