Over 300,000 residents completed both doses of Covid-19 vaccine in Maldives, by Monday.

According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), with an additional 476 persons receiving the second dose on Monday, a total of 300,064 have completed both doses. This includes 261 person in Male' City and 215 from atolls.

Further, the total number of people that have received a first dose has reached 376,630 with 3,853 first doses administered on Monday; 1,662 doses were administered in vaccination centers in the capital while the remaining 2,191 are from atolls.

With this development, 76,566 persons are now waiting to receive their second jab.

More residents across the Maldives have begun attending vaccination centers for their first jabs as authorities have set a deadline for the administration of first doses of AstraZeneca vaccine Maldives has received and is currently administering, on September 1, as the supply will expire in November. The country has received a shipment of AstraZeneca vaccine doses from Japan since the announcement was made.

The government's aim is to vaccinate 95 percent of those eligible through the free vaccination drive, by the end of August. Hence, there will be restrictions for unvaccinated persons from September 1.

HPA is currently in the final stages of the nationwide vaccination drive, launched by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on February 1. While the president was one of the first to get vaccinated in the country, he has urged all to take use of the opportunity and go get vaccinated as Maldives is among the few countries that have been able to secure enough vaccines to immunize the entire eligible population.

While authorities recently launched a vaccination drive for children aged 12 to 17, over 20,000 were vaccinated the first shot of the approved Pfizer vaccine for the age group by Sunday. This campaign is being conducted together with the education ministry, with awareness programmes held for parents as their consent is required for child's vaccination.