HEOC: AstraZeneca can be administered as 2nd shot to those whose first was Covishield

Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) has stated that the AstraZeneca vaccine can be administered as the second shot to individuals whose first shot was Covishield.  

Speaking at a press conference held today, Dr. Nazla Musthafa highlighted that the World Health Organization, as well as the Maldivian Technical Advisory Group, believed that both the vaccines are essentially the same – and the only difference is that they are manufactured by two different parties. Thus, those who were administered Covishield as the first dose can receive AstraZeneca as their second dose.

“Covishield and AstraZeneca are basically the same vaccine. They are just manufactured by two different parties,” she had said,

Maldives have received a shipment of AstraZeneca vaccine containing over 300,000 doses. This shipment is a part of the 500,000 doses bought by the Government from AstraZeneca Singapore.

Upon receiving this shipment, the government has kicked off a campaign that aims to fully vaccinate 90 percent of the eligible population by end of August. The campaign is presently ongoing at residential islands outside of Male’ area and will commence in the Male’ area on July 31.

AstraZeneca vaccine is a product of Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India is licensed to manufacture the vaccine under the label ‘Covishield’. The first type of COVID-19 vaccine received by the Maldives is Covishield - that is 200,000 doses that were donated by the Indian government.