Hope is Procuring 700,000 Doses by June, No Guarantee Yet: Minister

Health Minister Ahmed Naseem has stated that his hope is that the 700,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines that were procured under agreement between the Maldives and AstraZeneca Singapore reach Maldives by June.

Health Minister stated that all of the 7 lakh doses will not be received together but in shipments at a time. He further noted that discussions will have to be placed with the Foreign Minister to track the progress of this situation. The minister gestured that there is no confirmation exactly regarding this.

Previously the Minister had stated that the vaccines will be arriving in March but due to miscellaneous reasons this was not possible.

When posed with the question of the number of remaining doses, the Minister insinuated that even if there were minimal doses it is not relevant and that Maldives is one of the few countries blessed with a vaccination program and that it is an accomplishment that 70 percent of the population have now received their first dose. The Minister stated that continuous work will be put in to ensure no shortage of vaccines in the Maldives. Dhiyares News posed the question regarding the remaining shipments and Minister Kerafa stated that due to the COVID19 situation in India there have been some difficulties in procurement,