Covid-19 Dhifaau: More than 75,000 receive first jab of Covishield

An elderly person receiving Covid-19 vaccine in Malé | Photo: Sun

Malé, Maldives – Health Protection Agency (HPA) has revealed that the number of individuals who have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in the Maldives has exceeded 75,000.

In the latest statistics published by the authority, a total of 75,013 individuals were recorded to have gotten the first jab, which includes 56,979 in the capital, Malé area, while the remaining 18,034 were from the rest of the country.

The total figure comes with a 5,004 figure increase in comparison to yesterday, with 3,310 individuals having have received the inoculation in Malé and 1,694 individuals having have gotten their shot from the rest of the country during the past 24 hours.

Maldives is currently administering the Covishield vaccine mass produced by the Serum Institute of India, which is essentially the same as the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.

Although this is the only vaccine approved for use in the Maldives, the country has also received the Chinese made Sinopharm vaccine, which is currently under review.

In total, Maldives has secured more than 1.1 million doses of the vaccine, meaning that the entire population can get vaccinated soon – something which the government of Maldives aims to achieve within the next six months.