3,057 people received their first doses of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines across the Maldives on Thursday.

According to the latest Covid-19 vaccination updates publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), a total of 3,057 persons were administered their first doses of the Covid-19 vaccination across the Maldives from 6pm Wednesday to 6pm Thursday.

With this, a total of 240,773 people have received their first doses of Covid-19 vaccines in Maldives, including 132,044 persons vaccinated from the Greater Male' area and 108,729 total vaccinations from atolls.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih initiated the Maldives' Covid-19 vaccination drive on 1 February 2021.

The public health authority started the second round of vaccinations with the Sinopharm vaccine produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products of China, 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. Two vaccination shots of the same type are required to effectively build immunity against the potentially fatal Covid-19 infection.

5,500 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine allocated to the Maldives through the COVAX facility will also be administered to special groups, such as immunocompromised persons, those who have had an organ transplant, those who require regular dialysis, cancer patients and children over the age of 16 with comorbidities that place them at greater risk of complications from Covid-19. As the Pfizer vaccine must be refrigerated at -70 degrees, this vaccine will mostly be administered in the Greater Male' area.

The Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) earlier stressed the importance of vaccinating in order to build herd-immunity against Covid-19 within Maldivian communities as this would be the only way Covid-19 health and safety restrictions could be eased across the country.

On March 25, Maldives received a consignment of 100,000 Sinopharm doses, with 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, the Ministry of Health has also signed an as-yet undisclosed agreement with Singapore's AstraZeneca Company to purchase 700,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccination, details of which have not been confirmed by authorities as of now.