Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer stated that the government expects to spend MVR 69 million (USD 4.5 million) on 900,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Minister Ameer told local news source Mihaaru on Wednesday that the government has formed agreements with various companies to buy 900,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in addition to the vaccine doses received through donation. He also revealed that MVR 40 million has already been spent on vaccines out of a total of MVR 69 million.
The Maldives government agreed to purchase 700,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca Singapore, with 500,000 doses anticipated to arrive this month.
Furthermore, China’s Sinopharm and the Pfizer vaccine are currently being used in the Maldives. The Health Ministry recently announced plans to obtain Russia’s Sputnik vaccine.
In the Maldives, the Covishield vaccine has been administered to the majority of people receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. However, due to a halt in vaccine exports from India, the vaccination was briefly discontinued in late May. Following a vaccine donation, the government has recently resumed administering the Covishield vaccine.
