By Tuesday’s end, more atoll residents were inoculated against the global Covid-19 pandemic across the Maldives.

Maldives saw 1,807 inoculated under the government’s “Covid-19 Dhifaau” vaccination drive between 6pm Monday and 6pm Tuesday.

According to the latest Covid-19 vaccination updates publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), 656 were inoculated across eight vaccination centers and two mobile teams across the Greater Malé Region whereas 1,151 persons received their first Sinopharm doses in 169 vaccination centers across atolls within the past 24 hours.

The national vaccination total sits at 235,682, as of 6pm Tuesday.

With this development, the total number of vaccination doses administered under the government’s national Covid-19 inoculation drive across the capital region has reached 130,376. Further, 105,306 vaccinations have also been carried out across outlying atolls since the incumbent administration initiated the national Covid-19 vaccination programme on February 1.

The Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) earlier stressed the importance of vaccinating in order to build herd-immunity against Covid-19 within Maldivian communities.

On March 15, authorities discontinued the inoculation programme across the Covid-19 epicenter Malé, however, HPA resumed administering the first doses of vaccination on March 22.

The public health authority started the second round of vaccinations with the Sinopharm vaccine produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products of China, currently approved for use in more than 25 countries, for everyone above 18 years of age and below 60, who were unable to get their shots in the first round.

According to HPA, they will begin administering the second doses of Covishield during May or April at the earliest. The second dosages for the Sinopharm vaccinations will be given after three to four weeks following the first dose. While two shots are required to effectively build immunity against the fatal infection, both shots must be of the same type.

Neighboring India donated 100,000 Covishield doses to the Maldives during January, followed by another consignment of 100,000 vaccination doses during External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar’s visit to the island nation in February. The government signed an agreement with Serum Institute of India and the Serum Institute of Life Sciences to purchase 300,000 more vaccination doses, the consignment of which arrived in the Maldives on Monday.

On March 25, Maldives received a consignment of 100,000 Sinopharm doses, the first of two batches totaling 200,000 doses donated by the government of China to amp up the country’s vaccination efforts. Maldives received the second batch of the donation on Tuesday.

Further, Maldives also signed an agreement with Singapore’s AstraZeneca Company to purchase 700,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccination in December 2020. Details of the shipment’s arrival have not been confirmed by the authorities yet.