The American government has donated more doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the government of Maldives.
In a press release issued on Saturday, the U.S. Mission to Maldives revealed that the American government has donated a total of 100,620 additional doses of Pfizer vaccines to Maldives, thanks to the generosity of the people of U.S.
The donation of the “safe” and “effective” vaccines, comes in a bid to help Maldives battle Covid-19 in partnership with COVAX and assist the people of Maldives to get their booster shots which will in turn prevent new infections as well as the spread of new variants.
The most recent donation adds to the 439,920 doses of safe and effective Pfizer BioNTech vaccines the U.S. government has provided to the Maldives through 2021 and early 2022.
Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) the U.S. is also supporting the government of Maldives to deliver these vaccines across to outlying atolls as well as to train healthcare workers and encourage people to get vaccinated safely and effectively.
U.S. COVID 19 response efforts, including vaccination donations, reflect the true generosity of the American people. We are leveraging the ingenuity of American scientists and manufacturing with our logistics and global operations know-how to help vaccinate the world.”Andrea Appell, Chargé d’Affaires for the U.S. Mission, Maldives.
USAID has provided more than USD seven million in Covid-19 assistance since the pandemic first broke out in March 2020.
The agency has also provided an in-kind donation of 60 ventilators to the Maldivian government.
The U.S. Mission to Maldives highlighted that this assistance provided “life-saving” treatment, enhanced clinical care, organized critical supplies to boost response efforts, assisted in expanding social protection services and even supported the development of effective economic, fiscal and monetary measures in response to Covid-19.
The U.S. government has pledged more than 1.2 billion vaccines worldwide so far, having delivered more than 533 million to 115 countries by April this year.
The country also boasts the largest donation to the global vaccine initiative, COVAX.
U.S. has been one of the most generous contributors to the Maldives Covid-19 response efforts, so far having donated 540,540 vaccine doses to the Maldives.
The donations were provided entirely free of charge.
In addition to this, the United Staes has also provided urgent medical supplies including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including KN95 masks, protective goggles, examination gloves, diagnostic tools including Rapid Diagnostic Tests and fingertip pulse oxi-meters.
Other forms of assistance provided by the U.S. government including the provision of clinical training to 796 doctors and nurses from 60 facilities specializing in Covid-19 case management, training 191 staff from 19 health facilities on ventilator use to expand the pool of healthcare professionals qualified to use the model, donating critical hygiene supplies that has reached more than 76,000 students and 9,000 teachers across government schools and special needs care facilities as well.
Maldives was included among the first countries to receive vaccines under the U.S. Global Covid Vaccine Sharing strategy.
