Malé, Maldives – Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced that Covid-19 vaccination has begun for undocumented migrants in Maldives.
While vaccination for undocumented migrants is being carried out in collaboration with Maldives Red Crescent (MRC), the foreign workers will receive the Covid-19 vaccine free of cost, same as the rest of the Maldives population after they register with MRC.
While speaking at the Health Emergency Operation Center’s press conference that was held on February 14, 2021, Secretary General of Red Crescent, Fathimath Himya stated that the expatriates who are in Maldives in accordance to the regulations (documented workers) can get the Covid-19 vaccine by registering at the vaccination portal, my.health.mv.
However, she noted that the undocumented workers who are living in Maldives illegally will not be able to register at the vaccination portal provided by the government and will instead have to register at the Red Crescent Beneficiary System to get vaccinated in Maldives.
Himya detailed that for the undocumented workers to get registered, they will have to call the Migrant Support Centre of the Male’ sector of Red Crescent.
After MRC announced that undocumented foreign workers would also receive vaccine, Secretary General of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IRFC), Jagan Chapagain congratulated the Maldives Red Crescent team for including migrant workers in the vaccination program of Maldives.
Secretary General, Chapagain tweeted on February 21, 2021 to congratulate the Red Crescent team of Maldives for their kind words and action used in including the migrant workers in Maldives in the Covid-19 vaccination program, irrespective of their legal status.
In the latest statistics published by the authority, a total of 85,110 individuals were recorded to have gotten the first jab, which includes 61,777 in the capital, Malé area, while the remaining 23,333 were from the rest of the country.
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.
