Healthcare authorities vaccinated over 6,000 persons by Tuesday’s end.

Revealing that 57 percent of the total eligible population of the Maldives has received the first doses of vaccination against the Covid-19 pandemic by Tuesday’s end, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed that 255,881 individuals have received first doses nationwide so far.

6,940 vaccinations were carried out nationwide on Tuesday, out of which 4,742 were first doses and 2,198 second doses.

According to the latest Covid-19 vaccination updates publicized by HPA, 376 residents of the Greater Malé Region received their first vaccine doses from two mobile teams across nine vaccination centers in the capital, whereas 4,366 received their first shots across 237 vaccination centers in outlying atolls.

On Tuesday a total of 2,116 Malé residents received their second doses alongside 82 atoll residents.

As the number of persons who have been administered their first Covid-19 doses have crossed the 255,000-mark, 7,951 individuals have received their second shots.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih launched the “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive on February 1 with the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccinations produced by India’s Serum Institute. After temporarily discontinuing the first round of vaccinations on March 15, the public health authorities resumed administering the first doses of vaccination on March 22. HPA has since begun administering the second Covid-19 vaccination doses on April 3.

Currently, vaccinations for those who are receiving their second doses are open for those who received their first shots between February 1 – 10 or eight weeks prior and for those who need to travel abroad after completing four weeks since their first shots were administered.

The second shots 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.

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.

In addition, HPA has announced that those who are travelling abroad for medical and educational purposes may receive their second Covishield doses under specific conditions. As such, they may seek their second shots if they are unable to return to Maldives within 12 weeks of receiving the first shot and if four weeks have passed since first shots.

Earlier this year, neighboring India donated 200,000 Covishield doses to the Maldives after which Maldives signed an agreement to purchase 300,000 more Covishield doses from Serum Institute of India and the Serum Institute of Life Sciences, the first consignment of which arrived in late March.

During March, Maldives received a consignment of 200,000 Sinopharm doses donated by the government of China to boost the country’s vaccination efforts.

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