Maldives agrees to purchase 300,000 doses of Covishield

The Maldives has agreed to purchase 300,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine and will once again begin administering the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country once more shipments of the vaccine are procured by the nation. 

Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC), in a press conference last night said that the first dose of the vaccine for those who are yet to receive it would be administered after more vaccines were received, before announcing that the country had entered into an agreement with the Serum Institute of India to procure more vaccines.

Maldives is currently administering the Covishield vaccine for COVID-19, which is the Astrazeneca-Oxford University developed the vaccine. The vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. The Maldives had received a total of 212,000 vaccines.

They include two shipments of 100,000 vaccines donated by India. The COVAX facility has also provided 12,000 doses of the vaccine. Covishield although convenient to store requires two doses to be administered. The second dose of the vaccine is to be administered after eight weeks of the first dose.

HEOC spokesperson Dr. Nazla Rafeeq last night announced that the Maldives had entered into an agreement with the Serum Institute to procure 300,000 doses of the vaccine. So far, 206,114 people in the Maldives have received their first dose of the vaccine, which means that only 5,886 doses of the vaccine remain in the nation. 

The government had announced last December that it had entered into an agreement with Astrazeneca to procure 700,000 doses of the vaccine. However, not much detail regarding the procurement of vaccines was revealed by the government. 

Dr. Nazla said last night that the Maldives was also working to receive donations of Sinopharm vaccine pledged by China and also vaccines available through the COVAX facility as well as 5,850 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. 

The Maldives has 18,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine developed by a Chinese company donated by a well-wisher. The Chinese government had also pledged to provide 200,000 more doses of the vaccine as well. The vaccine is yet to receive the green light by Maldivian health authorities. Dr. Nazla said that work to approve the vaccine was underway and that the vaccine would also be administered as soon as the health authorities approve of it. 

Health authorities had announced late last month that the Maldives would stop administering the first dose of the vaccine by today, leading to extremely long queues at vaccine centers in the last week. Authorities later stated that the first dose would still be administered for certain groups such as high-risk individuals even after the date of cut-off.

Dr. Nazla said last night that those who had not received the first dose of the vaccine would be vaccinated when more doses are procured by the nation. 

“Currently, work is underway to commence the second dose in April. As we receive more vaccines, the first dose of the vaccine for those who haven’t yet received it, will be administered,” said Dr. Nazla. 

The dose is to be administered to those who did not receive it in the first round commenced on February 1. HEOC said that it was working to vaccinate as many as possible and that 46 percent of the total eligible population had received the first dose by now.