Portsmouth sailors deliver Covid vaccines to remote island

Portsmouth-based sailors have delivered coronavirus vaccines to one of the most remote communities in the world in the South Atlantic.

HMS Forth has landed 900 doses on the British Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha after a 2,500 mile journey from the Falklands.

Forth was the first ship to call on the volcanic island in eight months and the first Royal Navy vessel to stop in six years.

The warship was the last ‘baton carrier’ in a 10,000-mile race to get the vaccine to islanders.

The Royal Air Force delivered the vaccine from RAF Brize Norton to Mount Pleasant in the Falklands.

Within an hour, the tiny phials were stored in Forth’s sickbay and the ship was leaving her base to sail across the ocean.

With no opportunity to refuel en route, the voyage had to be planned to avoid the effects of the wind, sea and current.

Only 60 minutes were allowed to pass between the vaccine doses leaving the ship and arriving in the refrigerator on Tristan da Cunha.

Commodore Jonathan Lett, Commander British Forces South Atlantic, said the operation had been a "huge logistical challenge".