Covid-19: 5,004 vaccine doses administered on Sunday

Over 75,000 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in the Maldives thus far, with 5,004 first doses of the Covishield vaccine administered on Sunday.

The most recent vaccination update by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirms that authorities were able inoculate an additional 5,004 people between 6pm Saturday and 6pm Sunday. Following this, the Maldives' national vaccination total has now risen to 75,013.

Of Sunday's 5,004 successful vaccinations, 3,310 were conducted in 10 vaccination centers across the Greater Male' Area. With this, a total of 56,979 persons have been vaccinated against Covid-19 from Male' since the beginning of February. 1,694 of Sunday's vaccinations took place across 69 vaccination centers in atolls, which squares out the number of people who have received vaccines from different atolls thus far to 18,034.

Speaking at a press conference held on Sunday night, Spokesperson for the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) Dr. Nazla Rafeeq said that while vaccination efforts in atolls were not as expansive as in Male', authorities had now transported doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to all atolls of the Maldives. She also added that the first to receive vaccines across health centers on islands would be health workers and those above the age of 80.

On Saturday, the Maldives was granted an additional 100,000 doses of the Oxfgord-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine as manufactured by India's Serum Institute. The receival of these vaccines were confirmed in a symbolic handover ceremony conducted on Saturday, by the Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar, and the Maldivian Minister of Health, Ahmed Naseem at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Authorities are working to vaccinate as much of the Maldivian population as possible in the coming months in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and avoid any further loss of life from the virus, which has already resulted in the deaths of 60 people in the Maldives thus far.