Over 187,000 persons have been fully vaccinated against the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic by Saturday’s end.

According to latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), a total of 1,152 persons received vaccination doses under the government’s “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive on Saturday.

Saturday’s vaccine shots included 192 first doses and 959 second doses.

446 Greater Malé residents received vaccination shots from mobile teams and six vaccination centers, whereas 705 atolls residents were vaccinated at 193 vaccination centers spanning outlying atolls on Saturday.

OF the first doses, 112 were Malé residents and 80 were atoll residents. The second doses included 625 atoll residents and 334 Malé residents.

With this, the total number of persons who have received first doses nationwide sits at 316,261 whereas 187,736 persons have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 so far.

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

A total of seven vaccinations are currently approved for emergency use in the Maldives. The most recent vaccine approved for emergency use in the Maldives is AstraZeneca, the seventh vaccine approved by the Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) on June 20. On June 6 Maldives approved Spain’s Moderna vaccine as well as the Janssen vaccine manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson. Earlier in May Maldives authorized Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine in its battle against Covid-19 as the fourth vaccine approved for emergency use. Maldives is also using the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccination, Sinopharm as well as Pfizer vaccines in its inoculation programme.

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.