Malé, Maldives – Spokesperson of Health Emergency Operations Center Dr Nazla Rafeeq, today, said that the Maldives will receive additional 100,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine by mid December 2021.
Dr Nazla has said this after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said yesterday that Maldives will expand the Covid-19 booster program to the general population starting mid December, after World Health Organization classifying a new Covid-19 variant of concern, the Omicron variant.
12,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine were initially donated to the island nation by the COVAX facility in March 2021 followed by 128،700 doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine donated to the Maldives by the United States on Friday, 9 August 2021 through the same facility.
Maldives is currently using the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines for the booster shot program.
Coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the WHO, COVAX acts as a platform to support research, development and manufacturing of a wide range of Covid-19 vaccine candidates, and negotiate their pricing. All participating countries, regardless of income levels, are to have equal access to these vaccines once they are developed. According to the Gavi website, the initial aim is to have 2 billion doses available by the end of 2021, which should be enough to protect high risk and vulnerable people, as well as frontline healthcare workers.
