2nd Sinopharm vaccine shipment to be transported to Maldives tonight

The Maldives is set to receive the second 100,000 doses of Sinopharm by tonight. 

A total of 200,000 doses of the vaccine (in two separate shipments) were pledged to be provided to the Maldives by the Chinese government. The first shipment had already been brought in after the Maldivian government approved the use of the vaccine on March 14. Administration of the vaccine was commenced on March 22. 

The second shipment scheduled to arrive tonight will be brought in much like the first, via a Maldivian special flight. 

#Maldivian flight with the second batch of the #Sinopharm vaccines donated by the Government of China will arrive tonight. @VelanaAirport #NationalAirline@MaldivianAero pic.twitter.com/pOuPzg2NSS

— Maldivian (@MaldivianAero) March 30, 2021

The government of the Maldives has previously said that the second shipment will be stored to be administered as the second dose of the vaccine for individuals who had received the first dose of Sinopharm from the first shipment. 

The Maldives began administering vaccines against COVID-19 with the Covishield vaccine by Astrazeneca and Oxford University on February 1. Since then, the nation has approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine as well as the Sinopharm vaccine.