Over 171,000 persons have received second doses of the vaccination against Covid-19, under the government’s “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive.

According to the latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), a total of 391 first doses and 1,010 second doses were administered under the government’s national “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive, on Thursday.

Of this, 105 persons received first doses and 325 persons received second doses from two mobile teams across six vaccination centers in the Greater Malé Region. Further, 286 persons received first doses whereas 685 persons were administered their second doses across 193 vaccination centers spanning outlying atolls.

Since the government launched its “Covid-19 Dhifaau” vaccination drive on February 1, a total of 171,115 persons have received second doses whereas the number of persons to have received first doses so far sits at 311,225.

Due to the strengthening of measures nationwide effective May 26, residents across the Greater Malé Region will be required to seek a police permit through the Maldives Police Service (MPS)’s permit portal before attending vaccination centers.

On May 12 Maldives approved the emergency use of Sputnik V Vaccine in its battle against Covid-19. Maldives is using the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccination, Sinopharm as well as Pfizer vaccines in its inoculation programme and the Russia-produced vaccine is the fourth addition to the “Covid-19 Dhifaau” vaccination drive.

Speaking to press earlier, Spokesperson for the President's Office Mabrook Azeez clarified that the Maldives had not requested Covid-19 vaccines from the state of Israel, at a time foreign media have reported that Israel plans to "donate" thousands of Moderna vaccine doses to a number of countries, including the Maldives.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih launched the inoculation drive on February 1 with the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccinations produced by India’s Serum Institute. After temporarily discontinuing the first round of vaccinations on March 15, the public health authorities resumed administering the first doses of vaccination on March 22 with the Sinopharm vaccination. HPA began administering the second Covishield vaccination doses on April 3 and the second doses of Sinopharm are also being administered currently for those who have completed three weeks since receiving the first jab.

Healthcare authorities halted administering the India-sourced Covishield vaccinations at a time there have been reports that the Maldives is low on Covishield supply. However, authorities have since revealed that they expect to receive a shipment of the Covishield vaccination in the upcoming month, and that efforts are currently underway to procure supplies.

Further, the first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccine doses procured through an agreement earlier, is also expected to be received this ongoing month.

Shedding light on the topic during a press briefing when questioned by media regarding the matter, Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem had revealed that shipments of the 700,000 AstraZeneca doses are expected to arrive within three months, with the first batch of 200,000 doses set to arrive in late June.