The United States provided 128,700 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to the Maldives via the COVAX facility today.
In a ceremony held at Velana International Airport on Monday afternoon, Health Minister Ahmed Naseem accepted the donation on behalf of the Maldives government.
Minister Naseem praised the US government’s efforts to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to other countries and thanked the US government for making the Maldives one of the first countries to receive the vaccine donations.
He also expressed gratitude for the US’s ongoing assistance to the Maldives during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing that the assistance was beneficial in combating the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
Furthermore, Naseem noted that with this Pfizer vaccine contribution, Maldives would be able to begin providing immunizations to children aged 12 to 17.
During the ceremony, US Ambassador to the Maldives Alaina Teplitz assured bilateral relations between the two countries will continue to grow and that the two countries would continue to collaborate on further projects.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the US gave up to USD 5.4 million in aid to the Maldives, including MVR 2 million in grant support and donations of PPE, ventilators, and other medical equipment.
