Covid-19: Maldives signs deal with AstraZeneca for 700,000 vaccine doses
Maldives received a consignment of 100,000 Covishield doses from India on Wednesday afternoon
The country received its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines on Wednesday, through an Indian grant assistance
Maldives has entered an agreement with AstraZeneca Singapore Private Limited to procure 700,000 vaccination doses for the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
This was revealed by the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC)'s spokesperson, Dr. Nazla Rafeeq, during RaajjeTV's special coverage for the arrival of the vaccine consignment from India on Wednesday.
She said that that the first batch of 100,000 doses will be administered to 50,000 individuals; the vaccine requires two shots per person.
At a time the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has reaffirmed that Covid-19 vaccines to be administered to citizens of the Maldives have received World Health Organization (WHO) approval, and that they will work to ensure that the security of doses fall under health and safety regulations, Dr. Nazla also confirmed that the doses will be administered after ensuring the vaccination matches the WHO criterion.
Dr. Nazla revealed that the vaccination programme will begin once registration is complete.
Although an exact date to begin the vaccination drive has not been confirmed by the HEOC, Dr. Nazla assured that the required training sessions have been conducted for healthcare workers.
Highlighting that each vaccination carries side effects, Dr. Nazla noted that they have been preparing to attend to and deal with emergency situations causes by allergic reactions and that healthcare workers have also been trained to deal with such situations.
As the Covid-19 vaccination is highly demanded by several countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the dosages are available for procurement only and will be issued under specific policies set for procurement, it was earlier revealed.
In a televised national address shortly before the arrival of the vaccine consignment, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has that the government's Covid-19 response plan is to provide free vaccines to all the citizens of Maldives, in the coming months.
