Malé, Maldives — The Chinese government has informed that they will be aiding Maldives with additional 100,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine.
The Foreign Minister of Maldives, Abdullah Shaheed just tweeted saying that during his recent meeting with the Ambassador of China to Maldives, Zhang Lizhong informed that the Chinese government will be donating additional 100k doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the island nation.
China has already pledged 100,000 doses to the Maldives. Maldives had also previously received 5,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, Sinopharm developed by China earlier this month. According to HEOC spokesperson Dr. Nazla Rafeeq, the 5,000 vaccines are currently stored and would be permitted by the Food and Drug Authority of the Maldives after assessments.
The Maldives commenced vaccinations on February 1, 2021. Currently, the Covishield vaccine developed by Astrazeneca-Oxford University is used in the Maldives. The vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
The first batch was 100,000 doses gifted by India to the Maldives. More vaccine doses are to be received through the WHO COVAX facility, that will arrive mid February. A further 700,000 doses of the vaccine are being procured by the Maldivian government, expected to be received in March. The Health Minister recently announced that Maldives will also procure the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccineBeijing Daily.
