4,528 persons vaccinated against Covid-19 on Saturday

4,528 vaccination doses were administered under the government’s “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive on Saturday.

Latest figures publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) reveal that the vaccine shots administered on Saturday include 477 first doses and 4,051 second doses.

The vaccine doses were given to 2,557 Greater Malé residents and 1,971 residents of outlying atolls.

As such, the 477 first doses were given to 185 Greater Malé residents and 292 persons residing in outlying atolls, whereas 2,372 residents of the capital region and 1,679 atoll residents received second doses.

The total number of persons awaiting second doses of the Covid-19 vaccination has dropped to 69,696 with this development.

The total number of persons who have completed both vaccination doses has risen to 315,080 with the total of persons having received first doses so far sitting at 388,776.

There are currently three mobile teams across six vaccination centers in the capital region, as well as 176 vaccination centers spanning outlying atolls.

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

More residents across the Maldives had begun attending vaccination centers for their first jabs as authorities set a deadline for the administration of first doses of AstraZeneca vaccine Maldives received, at September 1, as the supply will expire in November.

HPA announced restrictions for unvaccinated persons from September 1 earlier, however, on Wednesday it was revealed that the implementation of the restrictions will be delayed, as the government is currently working on launching an adequate application through which unvaccinated persons may be tracked and monitored.

Although the government earlier targeted to vaccinate 95 percent of those eligible through the free vaccination drive, by the beginning of September, authorities have revealed that they are not far from reaching the goal, with 85 percent of the eligible population aged 18 and above having received first doses and 84 percent of the eligible population above 12 years having received doses as well.

Restrictions that unvaccinated persons will be facing include 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.

Authorities only recently launched a vaccination drive for children aged 12 to 17. This campaign is being conducted together with the education ministry, with awareness programmes held for parents as their consent is required for children's vaccination.