Male: The Maldivian Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) on Saturday (February 27) informed that over 98,511 people have received the first dose of Indian-made Covishield vaccines manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII), reported avas.mv.
India has been at the forefront of the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and is providing vaccines to the world under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative.
More than 25 nations across the world have already received Made-in-India vaccines and 49 more countries will be supplied in the coming days, ranging from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean to Africa, South-East Asia and the Pacific Islands.
The COVID-19 vaccine program is being implemented in 179 islands across the Maldives. Around 69,725 people from the Greater Male Region and 28,586 people from the atolls, informed HEOC.
HEOC spokesperson, Dr Fathmath Nazla Rafeeq said the inhabited islands on which vaccination has not commenced yet are HA Muraidhoo and V Fulidhoo. Both islands have a small population and lack resources. Dr Nazla said mobile teams will be sent to the islands to begin vaccination, reported avas.mv.Â
The Maldives has a total population of around 557,426 people, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), meaning that about 19 percent of the population have received the first of two vaccine doses.Â
The Maldives began vaccinations on February 1 and has procured 1.1 million doses of vaccines, enabling it to inoculate almost the entirety of its population in the next few months.Â
