For more than a year, Haiti escaped the worst ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, reporting few cases and fatalities - a rare break for the poorest country in the Americas, which has so often been beset by misfortune.

Covid-19 treatment centers closed for lack of patients, Haitians resumed life as normal, and the government hesitated to even accept its allotment of free AstraZeneca vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX mechanism due to safety and logistical concerns.

Now, though, as some countries are already moving into a post-pandemic phase thanks to vaccination campaigns, Haiti is grappling with its first serious outbreak.

And it is one of only a handful of countries worldwide that has yet to administer a single shot of coronavirus vaccine.