Malé, Maldives – Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer on Wednesday, said that the state is expected to spend MVR 69 million (USD 4.5) on Covid-19 vaccines.
Giving information to local news outlet “Mihaaru”, Minister Ameer said that although the government signed agreements with various countries for 900,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine, they have received free aid from several authorities. He added that the nation has currently received MVR 40 million worth of vaccines from the originally intended amount.
The Minister noted that their contract value is approximately USD 4.5 million.
The government initially signed an agreement with Singapore to procure 700,000 doses of their Astrezeneka vaccine. The informs that they expect to receive 500,000 doses of the vaccine this month.
In addition to this, the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm and the Pfizer vaccine are also currently being used in Maldives. The Health Ministry recently informed of their plans to procure the Russian Sputnik vaccine as well.
The most commonly used vaccine in Maldives is the Indian Covishield vaccine. However, administration of this vaccine was temporality stopped in late May due to a halt in vaccine exports my India. The government has now commenced the administration of this vaccine with a vaccine donation from an anonymous source and has opened up for online applications.
