War and doubts slow COVID vaccination in disputed Yemen city

Many Yemenis seem reluctant to get the jab on religious grounds, distrust or because of the dangers of war.

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 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.