By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Despite its sprawling geography and often-inhospitable climate, Alaska ranks among the top U.S. states for getting COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of its residents, and its indigenous population has played a major role in that achievement.
With a history and culture deeply shaped by deadly outbreaks of disease that have periodically ravaged remote corners of their subarctic homeland, Alaska Natives have aggressively led the way on inoculations against COVID-19 for the state as a whole.
Through their federally recognized sovereign powers, Alaska Native tribes has secured larger vaccine supplies from the U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) than the state government has obtained for itself, said Tiffany Zulkosky, a Yup'ik and state legislator from the southwestern Alaska community of Bethel.