Hospitals across Maldives to begin COVID-19 vaccination on Feb. 3

Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) states that hospitals across Maldives will begin administering COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, February 3.

HEOC spokesperson Dr. Nazla Rafeeq told Sun that once hospitals begin administering COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, health centers will follow soon after.

“We are working on administering the vaccine to all healthcare workers and social care workers in Maldives within the next 10 days,” she said.

Maldives began its COVID-19 vaccine drive on Monday.

282 people received the first dose of the Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford on Monday, and authorities are working on securing more vaccines and eventually ramping up the inoculation rate to 10,000 shots per day.

Vaccinations are currently begin conducted in Male’, Kulhudhuffushi and Addu.

Vaccines are being administered in Male’ region from Indhira Gandhi Memoria Hospital (IGMH), Hulhumale’ Hospital, Vilimale’ Hospital, ADK Hospital and Tree Top Hospital, and in the Addu Equatorial Hospital in Addu City and the Kulhudhuffushi Regional Hospital in Kulhudhuffushi.

Maldives received 100,000 doses of the Covishied vaccine donated by India in January, and has signed as agreement with AstraZeneca to procure 700,000 more doses – which is expected to arrive in Maldives in March.