Vaccinating Montenegro's Mountain Villages

A vehicle carrying health-care workers and a Red Cross volunteer drive to a mountain village in the remote Kolasin region of central Montenegro.

Health-care workers in the mountain village of Ljevista on May 10

A villager receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot next to an alcohol distiller in Ljevista.

Montenegro has a population of around 620,000 people, about one-third of them in rural communities.

A health-care worker and a Red Cross volunteer walk through the village to the next recipient for a vaccine. 

Workers prepare vaccine shots for an elderly couple. 

Montenegro received some 42,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from the European Union in early May. 

A Red Cross volunteer carries vaccine doses through the mountain village. 

The European Union has been criticized by some politicians in the Balkans for not providing greater aid to the region -- including to candidate and other nonmember countries -- when help was needed the most during the pandemic. 

Locals wait to receive the vaccine. 

A medical worker prepares an injection as an elderly villager waits. 

As of May 12, a little over 5 percent of the population of Montenegro had been fully vaccinated. 

Villagers speak with the team of medical professionals after receiving their shots. 

A health-care worker fills out paperwork during the village expedition. 

Villagers relax in the spring sunlight after getting their vaccine shots. 

An elderly woman receives the vaccine. More than 1,500 people have died from the coronavirus in Montenegro since the pandemic was declared in early 2020.