Over 297,000 complete both doses of Covid-19 vaccine

Under the government’s “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive, over 297,000 persons have received both doses so far.

On Tuesday, 2,691 first doses and 505 second doses totaling 3,196 vaccinations were administered across the Maldives.

1,665 Greater Malé residents received vaccinations from three mobile teams across six vaccination centers in the capital region and 1,531 atoll residents were given vaccine doses across 176 centers spanning outlying atolls.

Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed that the first doses included 1,320 administered to Greater Malé residents and 1,371 given to atoll residents. Further, 345 Greater Malé residents and 160 atoll residents received second doses on Tuesday.

The total number of persons who have completed both vaccine doses currently sits at 297,003 whereas the number of persons who have received a first dose has been pushed to 356,883.

With this, the number of persons awaiting second doses has risen to 59,880.

The incumbent administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih launched the “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive on February 1 and recently the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) revealed that they are now in the final stages of the campaign and the aim is to vaccinate 90 percent of the eligible population by the end of August.

HEOC Spokesperson Dr. Nazla Rafeeq has revealed that the doses of AstraZeneca vaccine Maldives has received and is currently administering, will expire in November. With this being said and as vaccination has limited shelf life of just six months since manufactured date, authorities will conclude administering first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine by September 1. The government currently has the capacity to conclude first doses to the eligible population by the beginning of September.

The government aims to vaccinate 95 percent of those above 18 years of age as well as school employees through the vaccination coverage, by the beginning of September under the Education Ministry’s campaign to vaccinate the education sector employees and students.

While authorities approved Pfizer vaccine for children between the ages of 12 to 17 earlier, President Solih has since revealed efforts to complete the first dose for all eligible children by the end of August. The vaccination campaign began on Sunday.

HPA has also publicized a list of restrictions that unvaccinated persons will be facing, including a ban on domestic travel and disallowing tourists to check in to guesthouses if they are unvaccinated. Further, civil servants who have not been vaccinated yet will also be required to present negative PCR test results every 14 days from September 1.