Maldives receives Covishield vaccine shipment purchased from Serum Institute

The Maldives has received the first 100,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine purchased under an agreement with the Serum Institute of India, the Foreign Ministry of the Maldives has confirmed.

The vaccine shipment received by the Maldives today is the first shipment of vaccines under the agreement with Serum Institute for 200,000 doses of the vaccine. The Health Ministry of the Maldives entered into an agreement with the Institute, the manufacturers of the Covishield vaccine, also known as the Astrazeneca-Oxford University vaccine against COVID-19, on March 23, 2021. 

Foreign Ministry did not specify when the remaining shipment of vaccines will be received. 

Maldives had commenced vaccinations against COVID-19 on February 1 with the Covishield vaccine. Since then, the nation has approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine and the Sinopharm vaccine as well. Currently, the Sinopharm vaccine is being administered in the Maldives.

The Indian government had donated 200,000 doses of Covishield initially to the Maldives which was administered as the first dose of the vaccine. The Maldives had also received 12,000 doses of the same vaccine from the COVAX facility as well.

The shipment of Covishield received today, is most likely to be administered as the second dose of the vaccine.