Sioux Tribe prioritising Covid vaccines for native language speakers

‘It’s something we have to pass on to our loved ones, our history, our culture our language’

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has decided to prioritise the administration of coronavirus vaccines to those who speak native languages in an attempt to keep oral customs alive.

Standing Rock Tribal Chairman Mike Faith explained the decision to KXMB-TV, noting that only about 300 people on the reservation are fluent in the language.

“It’s something we have to pass on to our loved ones, our history, our culture our language. We don’t have it in black and white, we tell stories. That’s why it’s so important,” Mr Faith said.

Fort Yates hospital has already begun distributing vaccines to Frontline health care workers and from next week those who speak their native language will be granted priority.

The next phase will also include elders, law enforcement, tribal courts, and the school system, tribal officials said.

Tribal Health Director Margaret Gates said the Lakota and Dakota speakers “are the most important asset to our tribe and people because of the language.”

The Standing Rock reservation straddles the North Dakota and South Dakota border and is home to about 8,000 people, more than half of whom live in North Dakota.

According to a report by The Star Tribune, cases of the coronavirus have increased 400 per cent at the reservation since summer.

Figures have increased from 106 cases in early August to 550 cases in late November, according to data from the tribe, reported by the newspaper.

Last month, Jesse “Jay” Taken Alive, 65, the former chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe died after contracting Covid-19.

"Our people have gone through these things before, Spanish flu, famine. We've always come through it and survived, so we'll survive this," The tribes Emergency Manager Elliott Ward told KXMB-TV.

North Dakota has recorded more than 93,000 cases of the novel coronavirus since the outbreak gripped the US in March, with more then 1,300 deaths in the state.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press