Istanbul-based freelance photographer Emrah Gurel added geographic diversity to AP’s vaccine coverage, with strong photos and video of medical teams giving shots to elderly villagers in remote settlements in the mountainous Sivas province of central Turkey.
Ankara photographer Burhan Ozbilici helped set up the visit in an effort to expand AP's coverage of vaccination campaigns beyond the big cities. Text freelancer Andy Wilks wrote a narrative accompanying the photo package, while news editor Ayse Wieting edited the video and wrote a storyline.
Gurel’s remarkable photo gallery got wide play, and the video was picked up by clients in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Doctors and health workers of a COVID-19 vaccination team walk in the isolated village of Gumuslu in the district of Sivas, central Turkey, Feb. 26, 2021. After traveling snow and ice-covered roads, medical workers arrived in the small settlement of 350 people some 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the provincial capital, to vaccinate older villagers.
AP Photo / Emrah Gurel