It’s the 2021, and the world is still gripped by the ongoing pandemic. Everywhere, it seems, people are struggling to maintain social distance. But there are communities in some parts of the world — here, for example, in Yamal, on the Western Siberia — where distance is an inescapable reality.

A car with health workers is moving along the Nadym-Salekhard highway, which was built not so long ago. Before that, it was possible to travel between some of the largest cities in Yamal only on the winter road and by plane. A mobile vaccination point for nomads has been deployed on the 93-kilometer route that runs through the tundra. In a few days, it is planned to vaccinate 600 people of the indigenous population (in total, about 19 thousand Yamal residents have already received the Sputnik V vaccine). The vaccination point consists of several cars. In one of them, a medical inspection is carried out, and in others, a vaccination is. Several tarpaulin tents are set up nearby, where tundra residents fill out questionnaires and can drink hot tea after vaccination.

Along the Nadym-Salekhard highway, in the tundra, there are now many reindeer herders’ camps. Nadymsky district is a winter pasture where nomads deploy their camps and stay there from December to April, and in mid-April they begin “kaslanie” (nomadism) to the North in the Yamal region towards the Kara Sea. They make their passage to the other end of the peninsula in a week and during this time they cover about 700 kilometers. “In the tundra, all borders are open”, – Ivan Khudi, the reindeer herder, says. “We learned about the coronavirus from TV, and the most of sick people were in cities and towns. This trouble probably bypassed us due to our distance from civilization. For example, I have been in self-isolation for 61 years, since I was born”, – Ivan Khudi laughs.