Covid-19 Dhifaau: More than 3,000 vaccinated in Maldives

Nurses prepping to administer Covishield vaccine | Photo: President's Office

Malé, Maldives – So far, more than 3,000 individuals have received the Covid-19 vaccine in the Maldives via the Covid-19 Dhifaau campaign.

Health Protection Agency (HPA), revealing the details of the progress of the campaign, stated that a total of 1,626 people were vaccinated today, raising the sum of those vaccinated in the country to 3,204, out of which, 2,786 doses were administered in the Malé area.

Vaccination is currently ongoing in various parts of the country, which include six vaccination centers in Malé, and four within the atolls. The vaccine currently being administered in Maldives is the Covishield vaccine, manufactured by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, in collaboration with Oxford University, mass produced by the Serum Institute of India.

Maldives received 100,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine from India, which is currently in use, while additional 700,000 doses procured by the country are to be received within the March. However, the country will receive the vaccine shipment from World Health Organization (WHO), which would be sufficient to vaccinate at least 20 percent of the population of the country, with in the upcoming two weeks.

While China has also decided to donate 100,000 vaccines to the country, Maldives already received 5,000 doses of the Chinese made sinopharm vaccine via a donor Health Protection Agency has not yet named.