1,174 vaccination doses were administered under the government’s “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive on Saturday.

Latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), revealed that these included 227 first doses and 947 second doses.

The first doses include 81 residents of the Greater Malé Region and 146 persons residing in outlying atolls, whereas 264 Greater Malé residents and 683 atoll residents were administered their second doses by Saturday’s end.

There are two mobile teams and six vaccination centers across the Maldives capital currently, with 193 centers stationed across outlying atolls.

With this development, the total number of those fully vaccinated against Covid-19 nationwide has been pushed to 177,969, with the total number of persons who have received first doses sitting at 313,865.

The incumbent administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih launched the “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive on February 1.

Due to the strengthening of measures nationwide effective May 26, residents across the Greater Malé Region will be required to seek police permits 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. On June 6 Maldives approved the emergency use of Spain’s Moderna vaccine as well as the Janssen vaccine manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson. With this a total of six vaccinations are currently approved for emergency use in the Maldives.

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 soon, 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.