Covid-19: 4,950 first doses, 4,382 second doses administered Thursday

4,950 people received their first doses of 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 4,950 persons were administered their first doses of the Covid-19 vaccination across the Maldives from 6pm Wednesday to 6pm Thursday.

A further 4,382 second doses of Covid-19 vaccines were also administered to residents across the country on Thursday.

With this, a total of 265,235 people have received their first doses of Covid-19 vaccines in Maldives. As of now, 14,951 persons across the country have received their second doses of Covid-19 vaccines under the national Covid-19 vaccination drive, initiated by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on 1 February 2021.

Earlier this week, the Health Protection Agency revealed that roughly 57 percent of the total eligible population in the Maldives had received their first Covid-19 vaccination shot.

HPA has now 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, 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.

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 30 March.

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.

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 over 60 with chronic illnesses and children over the age of 16 with other 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 beginning Sunday.

HPA has also revealed that the Social Center in Male' City will be closed for vaccinations on Sunday, although other centers in the city will remain active for Covid-19 vaccinations.

Speaking at a press, Spokesperson for the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) Dr. Nazla Rafeeq noted that the last week had seen the most number of new Covid-19 cases confirmed across Maldives since the start of the pandemic. Dr. Nazla detailed that of the 1,258 Covid-19 cases reported last week, majority were from outside the capital of Male', where new cases have been on the decline in recent weeks.