Maldives expects to receive additional 100,000 vaccine doses by Feb end

President’s Office has announced Maldives expects to receive an additional 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine before the end of this February.

In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, President’s Office spokesperson Mabrook Azeez said the government expects to receive an additional 100,000 doses before the end of this February, as it works to secure additional vaccines to achieve the target of vaccinating everyone in Maldives against COVID-19 within the next six months.

Mabrook said Maldives also received a shipment of 5,000 doses earlier this Wednesday, but declined to provide any details, stating that the details regarding the vaccine will be released by Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC).

HEOC has previously stated that Maldives has received a donation of 5,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from well-wishers from China.

Mabrook said that Maldives will receive additional vaccines within this year, but is unable to provide excepted dates at this time.

“We hope to receive an additional 100,000 doses before the end of this month. We have worked for this,” he said.

Maldives began mass vaccinations against COVID-19 on February 1. Maldives is currently administering 100,000 doses of the Covishield developed AstraZeneca and Oxford donated by India in January, and has ordered 700,000 more doses of the same vaccine – which they expect to receive in March. Meanwhile, China also donated 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine – which have yet to arrive in Maldives. The country also expects to receive the first shipment of vaccines from World Health Organization (WHO) this February.