Male’, Maldives – The High Commissioner of India to Maldives Sunjay Sudhir has said that the vaccine developed by India to fight against Covid-19 would be accessible to Maldivians in the near future.
High Commissioner Sunjay made the remarks while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the new Ekuveni Synthetic Track developed in capital city Male’. High Commissioner said that India will ensure that their neighbours are provided with the vaccine, noting that India has the largest medicine production industry. He also added that Maldives would be given a priority in the distribution of the vaccine.
High Commissioner Sunjay also noted that ensuring that the vaccine developed in India is available to Maldives showcases that India would always be a frontline runner in aiding Maldives throughout its struggles.
The Maldivian Government had previously announced that they would be signing an agreement with the Srilankan Government to procure the vaccines. However, no details followed the announcement since then.
India has begun the world’s largest vaccination programme yesterday with the aim of vaccinating over 1.3 billion citizens of India. The programme was launched by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. To date, India has approved two vaccines to be used in the nation. This includes the vaccine developed by Astrezeneka along with Oxford as well as the the vaccine developed by their own Bharat Biotech.
The Indian health ministry has drawn up plans for 300 million people, almost the equivalent to the population of the US, to be vaccinated by August. Frontline healthcare workers, police and the army have been given priority, with those over 50 and with co-morbidity conditions to follow, all free of cost. Maharashtra, home to Mumbai and the state worst hit by coronavirus, plans to vaccinate 50,000 healthcare workers on the first day of the vaccine rollout.
