Malé, Maldives – The Health Minister of Maldives, Ahmed Naseem has said that booster doses may be required for the Covid-19 vaccines and discussions are underway regarding this.
The Health Minister said this in an interview with PSM on Raajje Miadhu program.
Minister Naseem said that the goal is to administer two doses of Covid-19 vaccines to 80 percent of the population, after which a booster shot may be required. Booster shots are not being discussed with health experts according to the Minister.
The Health Minister warned that Covid-19 is here to stay for a long time and as such, the disease has to be taken seriously.
He also said that plans are underway to procure required doses of Pfizer vaccine to inoculate the 12,000 individuals aged 16 to 18.
Maldives has authorized three vaccines for emergency use; Covishield, Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
The Covid-19 Dhifaau program was launched on February 1 with the aim of inoculating all eligible resident population of the country. Maldives has been lauded for practising vaccine equity in the International arena for giving free and equal access to vaccines to migrants regardless of their legal status.
A total of 296,961 individuals have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, while 102,589 received the second dose.
