President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has expressed gratitude to the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, following his administration’s decision to include Maldives as one of the first countries in the U.S. Global Covid Vaccine Sharing strategy.

In a Twitter post after the Biden administration announced the decision to share 80 million excess doses of the Covid-19 vaccination by the end of the ongoing month, the Maldives President wrote that the vaccination dosages to be donated by the U.S. government are “highly” welcomed in the country’s battle against the pandemic.

In an announcement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that the Maldives will also be receiving a consignment of emergency medical supplies from the U.S. government, to assist in the battle against coronavirus, in the coming days.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid highlighted that the decision to include Maldives among the first countries to receive vaccination supply is a “testament” to the trusted and close partnership between both countries.

He went on to thank the U.S. government and Secretary Antony Blinken for the essential assistance during such trying times.

The U.S. government reveals that approximately seven million vaccine doses will be shared with Asian countries including Maldives, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and the Pacific Islands.

Further, America’s Secretary of State took to Twitter earlier to reveal that a flight carrying essential medical supply to Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka departed on Thursday, under the U.S. government’s efforts to provide unending support to countries in Asia.

U.S. has been one of the leading contributors to the Maldives’ Covid-19 response efforts, having provided Maldives with four batches of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), a PCR machine, 60 ventilators and funds worth USD 750,000 as grants through UNICEF.