Malé, Maldives – Health Protection Agency (HPA) has revealed that 57 percent of the eligible population for Covid-19 vaccination have received their first jab till now.
According to the statistics released by HPA, until yesterday 251,139 people had gotten their first dose while 5,753 had gotten their second dose of the vaccine.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had inaugurated the launch of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccine program on February 1, 2021 and was the fourth person inoculated in the Maldives.
Vaccination of Covishield second dose started in four centers of the capital city, Malé on April 3, 2021. The second dose of Covishield vaccine, developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII), is in progress two months after the first dose was administered.
While two Covid-19 vaccines are being administered currently in the Maldives for first dose vaccinations, Health Protection Agency (HPA) has informed the public that the second dose will be of the same vaccine as they had received first. Covishield first dose receivers will get Covishield as the second dose, and Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine first receivers will get the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine second jab.
China had pledged 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to the Maldives. While the first batch of 100,000 doses were transported to Maldives by the national carrier Maldivian on March 25 and the second batch on March 30, 2021.
Maldives is also placed an order for additional 300,000 doses of Covishield in preparation for the second dose vaccinations, out of which 100,000 has been already received. The country previously administered 200,000 doses of Covishield which was received as donation from India for first dose administration.
Meanwhile, the government has signed an agreement with Astrazeneca Singapore Pte Ltd to buy 700,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine while 12,000 doses of Covishield have been received through the WHO COVAX facility. Maldives also receive 5,886 doses of Pfizer pledged by the COVAX facility yesterday.
