HEOC investigates resident administered two different Covid-19 vaccines

The Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) has revealed that they are investigating an instance of one person having received two different Covid-19 vaccine shots in the Maldives.

At a press conference held on Thursday, Director for the Health Protection Agency (HPA) Ahmed Nasir stated that health authorities were now investigating an instance where one person had been administered two different doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. Two shots of the same vaccine type are required to build immunity against Covid-19, and the HEOC have revealed that they are monitoring the status of the person who received the mismatched doses. HPA Director Ahmed Nasir confirmed that they were seeking WHO's advice on the matter as well.

The HEOC has not yet decided whether they will be administering another dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to the person in question. Director Nasir stated that this was because present findings supported the theory that the vaccinated person would receive all the benefits as others who received two doses of the same vaccine. Director Nasir added that studies did not support that receiving two different vaccine doses could somehow have a negative impact on a person's health.

The person in question had first been administered the Sinopharm vaccine as produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products of China on 22 March 2021 at Hulhumale'. They had then been administered a second dose of the Covishield vaccine on 21 April 2021 from Velana International Airport.