Male’, Maldives — The Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) has revealed that the Covid-19 vaccine will be purchased from both Serum Institute of India and from AstraZeneca company of Singapore.
Maldives first signed an agreement with Astrazeneca Singapore Pte Ltd to buy 700,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to fight against the Covid-19 virus that has taken over the whole world.
While Maldives has not yet received any doses of the Covid-19 vaccine that was bought from Astrazeneca Singapore Pte Ltd, the island nation has decided to sign an agreement with Serum Institute to purchase their Covid-19 vaccine.
A communication official of HEOC spoke regarding the matter and stated that vaccine will be brought from both of the companies that they have signed with. However, it was stated that they are still unsure of how many doses of Covid-19 vaccine they will be procuring from the Serum Institute that produces the Covisheild vaccine.
Earlier, the spokesperson of HEOC, Dr. Nazla Rafeeq had said that HEOC is still not sure of when the vaccines from the Singapore company will be brought to Maldives.
The Covishield vaccine brought to Maldives consists of two separate doses of 0.5 ml each. The second dose should be administered eight to twelve weeks after the first. Any individual who has had a severe allergic reaction to the first dose of the vaccine should not be administered the second.
Covishield, unlike many other Covid-19 vaccines, does not have extremely cold storage requirements, which makes the jab ideal for a tropical island nation like the Maldives. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is more affordable and portable when compared to more expensive alternatives, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as the price of Covishield vaccine is at a rate of USD 2 to USD 3 per dose in India.
