China to donate 100,000 doses of Sinopharm to Maldives

China will be donating 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the Maldives, the Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives Zhang Lizhong has announced. 

Ambassador Lizhong tweeted today that he had met with Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid to inform of the arrangement. 

China will be donating 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to the Maldives which is widely used in China. Ambassador Lizhong stated that discussions are being held to transport the vaccine shipment to the Maldives as soon as possible. A well-wisher has previously donated 5,000 doses of the same vaccine to the Maldives. 

Currently, the vaccine developed by Astrazeneca and Oxford University is administered in the Maldives, which began its vaccine drive on February 1.

The first shipment of the vaccine (100,000 doses) was gifted to the Maldives by India which manufactures the vaccine. A further 700,000 doses are being procured by the Maldivian government.