Maldives grants emergency approval to Pfizer, Sinopharm vaccine

The Maldivian government has granted emergency approval to the use of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and the Sinopharm vaccine for COVID-19. 

Approval for the vaccines was granted yesterday by the Maldivian Food and Drug Authority. 

Sinopharm is a vaccine developed by a Chinese company and will be administered to those aged between 18-60. The Maldivian FDA approved the use of both vaccines in an emergency situation. 

The Pfizer vaccine is developed by the company of the same name in the US, is one of the most widely used and effective vaccines, according to health experts. 

The Maldives had previously approved the use of the Covishield vaccine developed by the Astrazeneca and Oxford University. More than 200,000 people or 46 percent of the eligible population of the Maldives had received the vaccine.

The government is also working to procure more Covishield vaccines from the manufacturers, Serum Institute of India, and Astrazeneca, the developers.