Doctors scale rockslides, invoke gods to vaccinate Himalayan villages

Nirma Devi, 31, and Phula Devi, 30, hold boxes containing COVISHIELD vaccines as they pose for a picture at Malana village in Kullu district in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, India, September 14, 2021. Despite the hostile terrain, the northern state of Himachal Pradesh became the first in India to administer at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose in all its adults. The steep topography was a challenge overcome by health workers walking for hours or days to reach remote villages. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

MALANA, India (Reuters) - To visit the Indian village of Malana deep in the Himalayas, a COVID-19 vaccination team scrambled over a landslide that blocked the road the day before, scaled a retaining wall and then began a three-hour trek down and up a river valley.

Despite the hostile terrain, the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, where Malana is located, earlier this month became the first in India to administer at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose in all its adults.