2nd dose of Covishield vaccinations to be commenced on April 3

The Maldives will commence administrating the second dose of the Covishield vaccine on April 3. 

Vaccinations against COVID-19 in the Maldives were commenced on February 1 with the Astrazeneca-Oxford University developed Covishield vaccine. The second dose of the vaccine, according to the authorities was to be administered eight weeks after the first dose.

Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) said that the second dose of the Covishield vaccine will be commenced on Saturday with the arrival of 100,000 doses of the vaccine.

The first dose was a batch of 200,000 doses of the vaccine gifted by India, while the second batch of 100,000 doses was procured by the Maldives under an agreement with the Serum Institute of India, the manufacturers of the jab, for 300,000 doses of the vaccine in total. The shipment of the first 100,000 doses under the agreement was received by the Maldives yesterday.

The Maldives also has an agreement with Astrazeneca for 700,000 doses of the vaccine. 

More than 47 percent of the eligible population have received vaccinations against the virus. The Maldives is also using the Sinopharm vaccine. The second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine will be administered after four weeks of the first. Those who receive the Sinopharm vaccine will receive the second dose of the same vaccine while those who received the first dose of the Astrazeneca jab will receive the second dose of the same vaccine. 

The Maldives has permitted the use of the Pfizer vaccine, in addition to the Sinopharm vaccine and Covishield vaccine.