DEFENCE
Royal Navy delivers vaccines on the far side of the world Following a four-year absence, the Royal Navy returns to the Pitcairn Islands to deliver boosters and patrol a marine protected area as part of a renewed UK presence in the Asia Pacific. (all images UK MOD Crown copyright 2021).
HMS SPEY has visited the remote Pitcairn Islands to deliver Covid-19 vaccines and patrol the unique marine habitat to protect the area against illegal fishing. The islands – home to around 50 people – are one of Britain’s most isolated Overseas Territories. The ship carried enough COVID-19 jabs to offer a booster to every eligible person on the islands, most of whom are double vaccinated. A Royal Navy nurse administered a vaccine to every islander wanting one. Meanwhile, a dental team on-board provided treatment to islanders who, due to the border closures, had not seen a dentist in over two years. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), in collaboration with Crown Agents, has organised dispatches of vaccines to all the inhabited UK Overseas Territories. Now well underway, this booster campaign extends as far as remote communities in Pitcairn, Tristan da Cunha (south Atlantic Ocean) and the British Antarctic Territory. “Ensuring the vaccines reach HMS Spey so it can administer Covid boosters was a crucial mission for us,” said Bryan Richmond, Covid Response Lead at Crown Agents, which is a not-for-profit international development organisation which provides logistical expertise and manages programmes for 24
governments and multilateral organisations. “We know that Pitcairn reopens for tourism again in March for a much needed economic boost, and the island can only do so without jeopardising the health of its small community, which has limited access to health infrastructure, its closest neighbour Tahiti being 2,170 kilometres away.” The Pitcairn Islands are surrounded by one of the world’s
largest Marine Protected Areas (MPA), established by the UK in 2015, and home to an array of unique marine life, including pristine coral reefs. HMS Spey conducted patrols in the waters around the islands to deter and defend against illegal fishing, in partnership with the UK’s satellite monitoring programme run by the Marine Management Organisation. The MPA is inhabited by a number of threatened species, including Line of Defence
