President Solih urges all to take opportunity to vaccinate against Covid-19

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has stressed the importance of all those who are able to, receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, in order to stabilize the Maldivian economy and have life return to normal in the island nation.

President Solih made the remarks while delivering his third Presidential Address at the floor of People's Majlis on Thursday. In his address President Solih remarked on his administration's progress in combatting the effects of Covid-19 over the past year, noting that many milestones had been reached in revitalizing the nation's economy.

Speaking on efforts being made to counter Covid-19, President Solih confirmed that enough vaccines had now been acquired to inoculate all those living in the Maldives against Covid-19 within the next six months, free of cost.

President Solih highlighted that schools and transport services cannot be conducted as before until a majority of the nation's population is immunized against Covid-19, calling for all those who could get the vaccine to take the opportunity to do so and perform their civic duty to the nation.

Noting that the Maldives had been one of the countries most impacted by Covid-19, President Solih went on to detail his administration's efforts to combat the effects of the virus. He remarked that in the past year, all of the government's resources had been spend to safeguard the Maldivian people from Covid-19. He added that the government had been forced to take difficult but necessary measures for the sake of citizen's safety, such as locking down the nation's capital and closing international borders, to counter the effects of the pandemic.

President Solih further explained that following those difficult measures, his administration had begun expending full efforts into decentralizing and further developing the health sector, in order to strengthen the governments capabilities to match up to the difficult days head. He detailed that 362 health workers had been trained, and that the Maldives now had a capacity to test more than 5,600 samples a day for the Covid-19 infection.

Further, President Solih went on to remark that as a result of this methodical approach, the Maldives had been able to reopen international borders and ease lockdown restrictions within a few short months. He expressed his sincere gratitude to the citizens of the Maldives, noting that the nation would not be where it was today without the full support of the Maldivian people in achieving these goals.

President Solih also acknowledged the exhaustive efforts made by the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) formed by his administration in order to mitigate the impact of Covid-19, and offered his gratitude for the solid strategies presented by the technical advisory team, and health professionals who have been working against the infection on the frontlines to protect the citizens of Maldives against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The president launched the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign earlier this week on Monday, getting his first dose on live TV along with other senior government officials, to show confidence in the vaccine.