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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who was swept to power in pro-democracy protests in 2018, triggered an early election on Sunday to try overcome criticism over his handling of last year’s conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.   His resignation, which was expected, came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said that massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 constituted genocide, a move welcomed by Armenians worldwide and condemned by Turkey.  Pashinyan told Biden the symbolic decision was a matter of security to Armenia after the six week conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, in which Turkey backed Armenia’s neighbor Azerbaijan, where the ethnic Armenian-populated enclave is located.  Pashinyan had been under pressure to resign since he agreed to a cease-fire after ethnic Armenians lost territory in the fighting with Azeri forces in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.  He had already named a June 20 date for an early election.  Announcing his resignation, he said on his Facebook page on Sunday that he was returning power received from citizens to them so they could decide the future of the government through free and fair elections.    He said he had been compelled to agree to the peace deal, which was brokered by Russia, to prevent greater human and territorial losses. The Armenian army called for his resignation and he then tried to sack the chief of staff, a decision blocked by the former Soviet republic’s president.  Pashinyan updated Russian President Vladimir Putin about the elections and the situation over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, where around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have been deployed, in a phone call on Saturday, the Kremlin said.  The Armenian Prime Minister has complained before that some issues over the region, including the return of prisoners of war, have not been resolved yet.   According to the Sputnik media outlet, Pashinyan’s My Step ruling alliance led an opinion poll conducted by Gallup International Аssociation at the end of last month.    Its main rival is likely to be a grouping led by Robert Kocharyan, Armenia’s president from 1998-2008. 
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President Joe Biden aimed to accentuate the positive as he wrapped up his Leaders Summit on Climate Change on Friday. Biden highlighted the economic benefits the fight against climate change offers. But his plans still face an uphill battle at home. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more.
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Around the world, more than 1 billion people live with some form of disability, and they are disproportionaly at risk from the COVID-19 pandemic. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at what’s being done in the U.S. to improve their situation.
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A missile launched from Syria struck southern Israel early Thursday, setting off air raid sirens near the country’s top-secret nuclear reactor, the Israeli military said. In response, it said it attacked the missile launcher and air-defense systems in neighboring Syria.The incident, marking the most serious violence between Israel and Syria in years, pointed to likely Iranian involvement. Iran, which maintains troops and proxies in Syria, has accused Israel of a series of attacks on its nuclear facilities, including sabatoge at its Natanz nuclear facility on April 11, and vowed revenge. It also threatened to complicate U.S.-led attempts to revive the international nuclear deal with Iran.The Israeli army said the missile landed in the Negev region and the air raid sirens were sounded in Abu Krinat, a village just a few kilometers from Dimona, where Israel’s nuclear reactor is located, and explosions were reported across Israel. The army later said the incoming missile had caused no damage.The Israeli military initially described the weapon fired as a surface-to-air missile, which is usually used for air defense against warplanes or other missiles. That could suggest the Syrian missile had targeted Israeli warplanes but missed and flown off errantly. However, Dimona is 300 kilometers (185 miles) south of Damascus, a long range for an errantly fired surface-to-air missile.Syria reports four woundedSyria’s state-run SANA news agency said four soldiers had been wounded in an Israeli strike near Damascus, which also caused some damage. The agency did not elaborate other than to claim its air defense had intercepted “most of the enemy missiles,” which it said were fired from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the missile strike or comment from Iran. But on Saturday, Iran’s hardline Kayhan newspaper published an opinion piece by Iranian analyst Sadollah Zarei suggesting Israel’s Dimona facility be targeted after the attack on Natanz. Zarei cited the idea of “an eye for an eye” in his remarks.Action should be taken “against the nuclear facility in Dimona,” he wrote. “This is because no other action is at the same level as the Natanz incident.”The Dimona reactor is widely believed to be the centerpiece of an undeclared nuclear weapons program. Israel neither confirms nor denies having a nuclear arsenal.While Kayhan is a small circulation newspaper, its editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari, was appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has been described as an adviser to him in the past.Strikes urged previouslyZarei has demanded retaliatory strikes on Israel in the past. In November, he suggested Iran strike the Israeli port city of Haifa over Israel’s suspected involvement in the killing of a scientist who founded Iran’s military nuclear program decades earlier. However, Iran did not retaliate then.Israel and Iran are archenemies. Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons and has opposed U.S.-led efforts to revive the international nuclear deal with Iran. With Israel’s encouragement, then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018.Iran recently began enriching a small amount of uranium up to 60% purity, the highest level ever for its program that edges even closer to weapons-grade levels. However, Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes. It also has called for more international scrutiny of the Dimona facility.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapons capability, and defense officials have acknowledged preparing possible attack missions on Iranian targets. Israel has twice bombed other Mideast nations to target their nuclear programs.Nuclear talksAll the incidents come as Iran negotiates in Vienna with world powers over the U.S. potentially re-entering its tattered nuclear deal with world powers. Negotiators there have described the talks as constructive so far, though they acknowledge the Natanz sabotage could strain the talks.Israel’s government says the deal will not prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability. It also says it does not address Iran’s long-range missile program and its support for hostile proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.
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Touting the 200 million COVID-19 shots administered since he took office, President Joe Biden said he is looking into sending excess doses abroad. His administration is under pressure to do more to improve global vaccine equity, including supporting a campaign to waive vaccine patents. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
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This week the Biden administration is promoting a plan to boost electric bus production, proposing $45 billion spending to reduce American-made bus emissions to zero by 2030. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all charges Tuesday in the death of George Floyd nearly a year ago. Chauvin had been charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
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Women’s rights leaders in Afghanistan and human rights advocates are expressing concern the hard-fought gains of the past 20 years are under threat from a potentially resurgent Taliban when U.S. and coalition troops depart later this year. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports on the determination of many to defend those rights.
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Minneapolis and other US cities are bracing for possible unrest as the trial of a white former police officer accused of murdering a black man enters its final phase.  Mike O’Sullivan reports.
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Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a liberal icon who lost the most lopsided presidential elections after bluntly telling voters to expect a tax increase if he won, died Monday. He was 93. The death of the former U.S. senator, ambassador and Minnesota attorney general was announced in a statement from his family. No cause was cited. Mondale followed the trail blazed by his political mentor, Hubert H. Humphrey, from Minnesota politics to the U.S. Senate and the vice presidency, serving under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. His own try for the White House, in 1984, came at the zenith of Ronald Reagan’s popularity. Mondale’s selection of Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate made him the first major-party presidential nominee to put a woman on the ticket, but his declaration that he would raise taxes helped define the race. FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale and his running mate, Geraldine Ferraro, wave as they leave an afternoon rally in Portland, Ore., Sept. 5, 1984.On Election Day, he carried only his home state and the District of Columbia. The electoral vote was 525-13 for Reagan — the biggest landslide in the Electoral College since Franklin Roosevelt defeated Alf Landon in 1936. (Sen. George McGovern got 17 electoral votes in his 1972 defeat, winning Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.) “I did my best,” Mondale said the day after the election and blamed no one but himself. “I think you know I’ve never really warmed up to television,” he said. “In fairness to television, it never really warmed up to me.” Years later, Mondale said his campaign message had proved to be the right one. “History has vindicated me, that we would have to raise taxes,” he said. “It was very unpopular, but it was undeniably correct.” In 2002, state and national Democrats looked to Mondale when Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., was killed in a plane crash less than two weeks before Election Day. Mondale agreed to stand in for Wellstone, and early polls showed him with a lead over the Republican candidate, Norm Coleman. But the 53-year-old Coleman, emphasizing his youth and vigor, out-hustled the then-74-year-old Mondale in an intense six-day campaign. Mondale was also hurt by a partisan memorial service for Wellstone, in which thousands of Democrats booed Republican politicians in attendance. One speaker pleaded: “We are begging you to help us win this election for Paul Wellstone.” Polls showed the service put off independents and cost Mondale votes. Coleman won by 3 percentage points. “The eulogizers were the ones hurt the most,” Mondale said after the election. “It doesn’t justify it, but we all make mistakes. Can’t we now find it in our hearts to forgive them and go on?” It was a particularly bitter defeat for Mondale, who even after his loss to Reagan had taken solace in his perfect record in Minnesota. “One of the things I’m most proud of,” he said in 1987, “is that not once in my public career did I ever lose an election in Minnesota.” Years after the 2002 defeat, Mondale returned to the Senate to stand beside Democrat Al Franken in 2009 when he was sworn in to replace Coleman after a drawn-out recount and court battle. Mondale started his career in Washington in 1964, when he was appointed to the Senate to replace Humphrey, who had resigned to become vice president. Mondale was elected to a full six-year term with about 54% of the vote in 1966, although Democrats lost the governorship and suffered other election setbacks. In 1972, Mondale won another Senate term with nearly 57% of the vote. His Senate career was marked by advocacy of social issues such as education, housing, migrant workers and child nutrition. Like Humphrey, he was an outspoken supporter of civil rights. Mondale tested the waters for a presidential bid in 1974 but ultimately decided against it. “Basically I found I did not have the overwhelming desire to be president, which is essential for the kind of campaign that is required,” he said in November 1974. FILE – President Jimmy Carter embraces Vice President Walter Mondale on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Jan. 7, 1978.In 1976, Carter chose Mondale as No. 2 on his ticket and went on to unseat Gerald Ford. As vice president, Mondale had a close relationship with Carter. He was the first vice president to occupy an office in the White House, rather than in a building across the street. Mondale traveled extensively on Carter’s behalf and advised him on domestic and foreign affairs. While he lacked Humphrey’s charisma, Mondale had a droll sense of humor. When he dropped out of the 1976 presidential sweepstakes, he said, “I don’t want to spend the next two years in Holiday Inns.” Reminded of that shortly before he was picked as Carter’s running mate, Mondale said, “I’ve checked and found that they’re all redecorated, and they’re marvelous places to stay.” FILE – President Jimmy Carter, right, and Rosalynn Carter, second from right, pose with Vice President Walter Mondale and wife, Joan Mondale, left, following Carter’s inauguration in the White House, Jan. 21, 1977.Mondale never backed away from his liberal principles. “I think that the country more than ever needs progressive values,” Mondale said in 1989. The son of a Methodist minister and a music teacher, Walter Frederick Mondale was born Jan. 5, 1928, in tiny Ceylon, Minnesota, and grew up in several small southern Minnesota towns. He was only 20 when he served as a congressional district manager for Humphrey’s successful Senate campaign in 1948. His education, interrupted by a two-year stint in the Army, culminated with a law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1956. Mondale began a law practice in Minneapolis and ran the successful 1958 gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Orville Freeman, who appointed Mondale state attorney general in 1960. Mondale was elected attorney general in the fall of 1960 and was reelected in 1962. As attorney general, Mondale moved quickly into civil rights, antitrust and consumer protection cases. He was the first Minnesota attorney general to make consumer protection a campaign issue. After his White House years, Mondale served from 1993-96 as President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Japan, fighting for U.S. access to markets ranging from cars to cellular phones. He helped avert a trade war in June 1995 over autos and auto parts, persuading Japanese officials to give American automakers more access to Japanese dealers and pushing Japanese carmakers to buy U.S. parts. Mondale kept his ties to the Clintons. In 2008, he endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, switching his allegiance only after Barack Obama sealed the nomination. Mondale and his wife, Joan Adams Mondale, were married in 1955. During his vice presidency, she pushed for more government support of the arts and gained the nickname “Joan of Art.” She had minored in art in college and worked at museums in Boston and Minneapolis. The couple had two sons, Ted and William, and a daughter, Eleanor. Eleanor Mondale became a broadcast journalist and TV host, with credits including “CBS This Morning” and programs with E! Entertainment Television. Ted Mondale served six years in the Minnesota Senate and made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1998. William Mondale served for a time as an assistant attorney general. Joan Mondale died in 2014 at age 83 after an extended illness. 
 
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Jurors in the U.S. state of Minnesota are set to hear closing arguments Monday in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd. Derek Chauvin’s defense wrapped up two days of questioning witnesses last week after two weeks of the prosecution presenting its case. After hearing final arguments from each side, the jurors will be isolated until they reach a verdict. Prosecutors argued that Chauvin, who is white, caused Floyd’s death by kneeling on his neck. Floyd, who is African American, was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill, and bystander video of the police response last May sparked widespread protests in the United States and other parts of the world against police brutality and racial inequality.WATCH: Chauvin trialSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 8 MB480p | 11 MB540p | 14 MB720p | 30 MB1080p | 58 MBOriginal | 70 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioChauvin declined to take the witness stand during the trial. His defense lawyers argued Chauvin acted reasonably against a suspect who was struggling, and that Floyd died because of an underlying heart condition and drug use. If convicted of the most serious charge against him, second-degree murder, Chauvin could face up to 40 years in prison, though state guidelines suggest a sentence of about 12 years for such a charge. The same issues raised by Floyd’s death came to the forefront in the community again about a week ago when a now-resigned police officer in a Minneapolis suburb killed a 20-year-old African American man during a traffic stop. 
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Allies of jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny announced nationwide protests for this Wednesday — after the opposition figure’s family and personal doctors released blood analysis results that suggested Navalny was at high risk of cardiac arrest or kidney failure barring immediate care.
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At least three people were killed Sunday in a shooting at an Austin, Texas, apartment complex, authorities said.Austin police, calling the situation “an active shooting incident,” said they were searching for a suspect.”While a suspect is still at large, it appears this is a domestic situation that is isolated and there is no risk to the general public,” Austin police said on Twitter.The shooting occurred near a popular shopping area in the northwest part of the city, which is the capital of Texas.Police know the identity of the gunman, according to a report by KVUE-TV in Austin.Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Department said three adults were dead at the scene of the shooting, which was reported shortly before noon, local time.”No additional patients have been reported or located at this time,” the department said on Twitter about an hour after the incident was first reported.Police urged residents to avoid the area.
 
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No one can say with any certainty what will happen in Afghanistan once U.S. President Joe Biden withdraws the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops by September 11 to end the country’s longest war, a top White House official said Sunday.”I can’t make any guarantees about what will happen inside the country. No one can,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the “Fox News Sunday” show.”All the United States could do is provide the Afghan security forces, the Afghan government and the Afghan people resources and capabilities, training and equipping their forces, providing assistance to their government,” he said. “We have done that and now it is time for American troops to come home and the Afghan people to step up to defend their own country.”Biden’s decision to withdraw the remaining troops has drawn a mixed reaction in Washington. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it a grave mistake and “a retreat in the face of an enemy.” Senator Lindsey Graham said it was “dumber than dirt and devilishly dangerous.” Even some Democrats were concerned by the decision, including Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who worried the U.S. may “lost what we were seeking to achieve.”
But other lawmakers say it was long past time for the U.S. to withdraw the troops it sent to Afghanistan to defeat the al-Qaida terrorists who masterminded and carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people. But critics of Biden’s decision to withdraw troops 20 years later say it could lead to creation of a new terrorist haven in Afghanistan.Uncertainty Surrounds US Pullout From AfghanistanPentagon says that planners are still working out the details and a brief surge is possible to ensure a safe, orderly withdrawalAsked in a separate interview on CNN whether the U.S. “won the war” in Afghanistan, Sullivan replied that the U.S. had “achieved its objective” by degrading the presence of al-Qaida and killing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in a 2011 mission in Pakistan.He said the U.S. troop withdrawal now was a recognition that the U.S. needs to “focus on the battle of the next 20 years, not the last 20 years.”Sullivan, in the Fox News interview, was asked whether the U.S. was risking a repeat of what happened in Iraq in 2011, where Islamic State militants seized territory after U.S. troops withdrew. Then-President Barack Obama sent troops back into Iraq, but Sullivan said Biden had no intention of sending American forces back to Afghanistan once they are withdrawn.As he announced his decision to withdraw U.S. troops, Biden said the United States would monitor any terrorist threats in Afghanistan and keep substantial assets in the region. “He has no intention of taking our eye off the ball,” Sullivan said. “We have the capacity, from repositioning our capabilities over the horizon, to continue to suppress the terrorist threat in Afghanistan.”But CIA Director William Burns told the Senate Intelligence Committee last week that with the departure of U.S. troops, America’s ability to collect intelligence and act against extremist threats in Afghanistan will be diminished.A United Nations report in January said there were as many as 500 al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan.
 
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The manmade lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on.It comes as climate change means less snowpack flows into the river and its tributaries, and hotter temperatures parch soil and cause more river water to evaporate as it streams through the drought-plagued American West.The agency’s models project Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) for the first time in June 2021. That’s the level that prompts a shortage declaration under agreements negotiated by seven states that rely on Colorado River water: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.August projectionsThe April projections, however, will not have binding impact. Federal officials regularly issue long-term projections but use those released each August to make decisions about how to allocate river water. If projections don’t improve by then, the Bureau of Reclamation will declare a Level 1 shortage condition. The cuts would be implemented in January.Arizona, Nevada and Mexico have voluntarily given up water under a drought contingency plan for the river signed in 2019. A shortage declaration would subject the two U.S. states to their first mandatory reductions. Both rely on the Colorado River more than any other water source, and Arizona stands to lose roughly one-third of its supply.Water agency officials say they’re confident their preparation measures, including conservation and seeking out alternative sources, would allow them to withstand cuts if the drought lingers as expected.”The study, while significant, is not a surprise. It reflects the impacts of the dry and warm conditions across the Colorado River Basin this year, as well as the effects of a prolonged drought that has impacted the Colorado River water supply,” officials from the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Central Arizona Project said in a joint statement.’Straws’ for drawing waterIn Nevada, the agency that supplies water to most of the state has constructed “straws” to draw water from farther down in Lake Mead as its levels fall. It also has created a credit system where it can bank recycled water back into the reservoir without having it count toward its allocation.Colby Pellegrino, director of water resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, reassured customers that those preparation measures would insulate them from the effects of cuts. But she warned that more action was needed.”It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve,” Pellegrino said in a statement.The Bureau of Reclamation also projected that Lake Mead will drop to the point they worried in the past could threaten electricity generation at Hoover Dam. The hydropower serves millions of customers in Arizona, California and Nevada.To prepare for a future with less water, the bureau has spent 10 years replacing parts of five of the dam’s 17 turbines that rotate to generate power. Len Schilling, a dam manager with the bureau, said the addition of wide-head turbines allow the dam to operate more efficiently at lower water levels. He said the turbines will be able to generate power almost to a point called “deadpool,” when there won’t be enough water for the dam to function.Less water means less powerBut Schilling noted that less water moving through Hoover Dam means less hydropower to go around.”As the elevation declines at the lake, then our ability to produce power declines as well because we have less water pushing on the turbines,” he said.The hydropower costs substantially less than the energy sold on the wholesale electricity market because the government charges customers only for the cost of producing it and maintaining the dam.Lincoln County Power District General Manager Dave Luttrell said infrastructure updates, less hydropower from Hoover Dam and supplemental power from other sources like natural gas raised costs and alarmed customers in his rural Nevada district.”Rural economies in Arizona and Nevada live and die by the hydropower that is produced at Hoover Dam. It might not be a big deal to NV Energy,” he said of Nevada’s largest utility. “It might be a decimal point to Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power. But for Lincoln County, it adds huge impact.”
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Several longtime pro-democracy advocates on Friday learned their fate for organizing one of Hong Kong’s largest-ever street protests during the height of anti-government demonstrations.Nine pro-democracy activists, including media mogul Jimmy Lai, 73, and former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan, 64, Leung Kwok-hung, 65, Cyd Ho, 66, and Au Nok-hin, 33, were jailed after being found guilty this month of involvement in an August 2019 march that attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters.District Judge Amanda Woodcock of Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Magistrates Court also suspended sentencing for four other activists because of their age and accomplishments, according to The Associated Press.Lai, who was Pro-democracy activist Martin Lee, center, walks out from a court after receiving a suspended sentence in Hong Kong, April 16, 2021.The four remaining activists — “father of democracy” Martin Lee, 82, Margaret Ng, 73, Albert Ho, 69, and Leung Yiu-chung, 67 — received suspended sentences.Former Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau, who was at the court for the sentencing, told VOA that it was a “very, very bad day for Hong Kong.””So many people who have fought for democracy and human rights and rule of law for so many years have been given such heavy jail sentences for engaging in peaceful and nonviolent protests,” she said. “It’s very, very sad. But we know everybody, including judges and the government, are under a lot of pressure from Beijing, and they really want to teach Hong Kong people a lesson.”Lau said the length of sentences didn’t come as a surprise, as they were notably longer than they had been for activists charged with illegal assembly.”We know times have changed,” said Lau. “Beijing is breathing down on us very heavily, and everybody feels the pressure.”Hong Kong Activists Feel Pressure as Chinese Authorities Approach Relatives in Mainland China Organizer of student political group is latest activist under threat of violating the National Security Law  
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Nigerian authorities are stepping up efforts to vaccinate more people against COVID-19 after a slow rollout blamed on misinformation. Authorities aim to vaccinate over 80 million Nigerians by year’s end but are running far behind schedule. 
An Abuja vaccination center, which opened March 16, one week after Nigeria’s official vaccine rollout, vaccinates between 50 and 100 people daily. It is one of many vaccination locations in the Nigerian capital. Abuja resident Olu Agunbiade visited the center to get his first shot and says receiving the vaccine makes him feel safer.  “I can venture out into the world with a form of protection,” he told VOA. “I know that doesn’t mean I can’t still contract COVID, but at least I have antibodies, I can fight it.”  Nigeria received about 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine early last month.  Authorities say they will vaccine around 80 million people by the end of the year, but so far, only about 1 million have received shots. Although authorities say more Nigerians are now getting vaccinated, Abuja Primary Healthcare Board Executive Secretary Ndeyo Iwot says vaccine hesitancy and misinformation about the coronavirus are to blame for the low numbers.  “There’s a very big problem. Now start from the beginning, how many people even believed that we have the pandemic here? And now you want to bring vaccine for what they did not believe in the first instance? We have a lot of work to do,” Iwot says.    As workaround, authorities are trying to increase vaccine awareness in communities, villages, and marketplaces.   Despite this, though, citizens like Richard Uka insist they will not get the vaccine. “To be sincere, I don’t think this is necessary, to me it’s not necessary,” Uka told VOA. “And I believe that in Nigeria nothing works. How do you think that that vaccine works or how do we know that it works?” Nigeria needs to vaccinate about 150 million citizens by next year to attain herd immunity.  Iwot, though, says getting adequate doses of vaccines may prove difficult.  “Looking at the pandemic situation in Europe, India and the U.S.A. and the U.K., some of them are experiencing the third and fourth spikes now and India that was giving us is also having spikes now. So many of the dosages they have will be consumed there,” Iwot told VOA.Very few African countries are able to manufacture the coronavirus vaccines, creating heavy dependence on foreign manufacturers.  The World Health Organization says the continent has so far received less than 2% of the global 690 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines. 
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