Monday
18th Nov 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Dr.Shah Mahir. Photo: Mihaaru
Dr Shah Mahir, the State Minister of the Ministry of Health in charge of the Food and Drug Authority, has said that work was being done to approve the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in the Maldives.
Sinopharm is a public company of the Chinese government.
The vaccine currently being administered in the Maldives is the CoviShield vaccine manufactured by India’s Serum Institute. The vaccine had been manufactured based on a formula invented by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
So far, a private party has donated 10,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to the Maldives. In addition, the Chinese government has decided to donate 100,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to the Maldives.
There are many things to consider with importing a vaccine to the Maldives, said Dr Mahir. Among these things are the research and data, the vaccine’s validity, and the licenses granted by other regulatory authorities.
Dr Shah added that the Maldives would be receiving 108,000 doses from the World Health Organisation as part of their Covax programme.
The WHO would be sending the CoviShield vaccine said Dr. Shah. However, 5,000 doses would be the Pfizer vaccine, he said.