Commissioner of Quality Assurance at the Ministry of Health, Thasleema Usman has said that the the date to commence the second dose vaccinations for COVID-19 will be announced when another shipment of Covishield vaccine comes in.

The Pediatric Infectious Disease expert on the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), Dr. NAZLA Mustafa has previously said that the second dose of the COVID vaccine will be given after 8 to 12 weeks from the first dose.

And so, today marks the beginning of the eighth week since the COVID-19 vaccination program was launched in the Maldives. The Maldives launched the program with a donation of Covishield vaccine from India.

When One Online asked about the commencement of the second dose vaccinations, Thasleema said that the dose can be given on any date between the 8th and the 12th week. However, a date is yet to be decided to start the second dose vaccinations and that decision will be made when another shipment of the Covishield vaccine arrives in the country.

She said that the second dose vaccinations will be going in the order in which the first dose was administered and members of the public will be informing the day for their vaccination via SMS or Health MV.

Over 200,000 people in the Maldives have received the Covishield vaccine through Indian donations and the 12,000 doses from the COVAX facility of the WHO.

The Maldivian government has signed an agreement with India's Serum Institute that develops the Covishield Vaccine to buy 300,000 doses. And Foreign Minister, Abdulla Shahid has previously said that 100,000 doses from that agreement will be arriving in the Maldives Police this week.