Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, gets ready to leave her home before travelling to Mathalput Community Health Centre to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago. She helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school. When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour. "Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
A policeman stands guard as health workers pack up the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca before being transported to various vaccination centres from a regional vaccine store, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Koraput, India, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Ramishi, 13, whose mother Reena Jani, is a health worker scheduled to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, tries to find signal on her phone so she can ring her mother the day before Jani is vaccinated, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 15, 2021. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago. She helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school. When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour. "Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, puts on a protective face mask as she gets ready to travel to Mathalput Community Health Centre to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago. She helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school. When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour. "Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, washes her utensils before travelling to Mathalput Community Health Centre to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago. She helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school. When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour. "Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
A health department driver washes a vaccine van before transporting the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca to various vaccination centres from a regional vaccine store, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Koraput, India, January 14, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Healthcare workers at the state store pack the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca into a box before being transported to a regional vaccine store, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Bhubaneswar, India, January 13, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Pictures of health worker Reena Jani's children and Jesus Christ are hung up inside Jani's home in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
A van delivers the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca at Mathalput Community Health Centre, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Koraput, India, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
A health department employee counts vials of the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca as she prepares to pack them up before they are transported from the state storage to a regional one, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Bhubaneswar, India, January 13, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Lalu Porija, a health department driver, transports the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca from the state store to a regional one, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, India, January 13, 2021. "I am feeling a little tired," said Porija who negotiating cows, debris, thick fog and hairpin bends, and fighting fatigue, drove nearly 24 hours within three days to collect and deliver the vaccine shots to Koraput town. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, gets ready at her home before travelling to Mathalput Community Health Centre to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago. She helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school. When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour. "Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, waits to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca at Mathalput Community Health Centre, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. Jani's name was on a list of 100 health workers at Mathalput Community Health Centre, making her one of the first Indians to be inoculated against COVID-19 earlier this month, as the country rolls out a vaccination programme the government calls the world's biggest. But she had heard rumours of serious side effects and worried about what would happen were she to get ill. "I was frightened because of my son and daughters. If something happens to me, what will they do?" Jani said. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, cooks a meal before travelling to Mathalput Community Health Centre to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at her home in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago. She helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school. When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour. "Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
A woman carries a boy in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, arrives at Mathalput Community Health Centre on her neighbour's motorcycle, to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. Jani's name was on a list of 100 health workers at the centre, making her one of the first Indians to be inoculated against COVID-19 earlier this month, as the country rolls out a vaccination programme the government calls the world's biggest. But she had heard rumours of serious side effects and worried about what would happen were she to get ill. "I was frightened because of my son and daughters. If something happens to me, what will they do?" Jani said. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, sits outside her home with her husband Suna Jani, 15-year-old daughter Rajani and 10-year-old son Sujeet, a day before receiving the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 15, 2021. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago. She helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school. When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour. "Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Health workers store the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca inside a refrigerator at Mathalput Community Health Centre, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Koraput, India, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, leaves Mathalput Community Health Centre after receiving the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Health workers pack up the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca before they are transported to various vaccination centres from a regional vaccine store, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Koraput, India, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, cooks a meal before travelling to Mathalput Community Health Centre to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at her home in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago. She helps to monitor pregnant women in her village of 500 people, and helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea. The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school. When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour. "Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
Armed police officers stand guard at the state vaccine storage before the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca are transported to various vaccination stores, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Bhubaneswar, India, January 13, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
People walk through Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
A woman looks out from Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
A health department truck waits in a traffic jam as it transports the vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca from the state vaccine store to a regional vaccine store, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Ganjam, India, January 13, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
A phone belonging to Reena Jani, 34, a health worker, is hung up outside her home to receive signal, in Pendajam village in Koraput, India, January 16, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui Show moreShow less
From factory to faraway village: Behind India's mammoth vaccination drive