Covid-19 Dhifaau: More than 98,000 receive first jab in Maldives

Vaccination for undocumented migrants began in Maldives today | Photo: MRC

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 98,000.

In the latest statistics published by the authority, a total of 98,311 individuals were recorded to have gotten the first jab, which includes 69,725 in the capital, Malé area, while the remaining 28,586 were from the rest of the country.

The total figure comes with a more than 7,000 figure increase in comparison to yesterday, with 4,825 individuals having have received the inoculation in Malé and 2,621 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.