United States of America (USA) has donated 128,700 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to the Maldives, under the COVAX Facility.

Foreign Ministry confirmed that these are vaccines donated by the USA through the COVAX facility.

During a ceremony held at Velana International Airport this afternoon, the vaccines were received by Health Minister Ahmed Naseem on behalf of the Maldivian government.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Naseem had praised the USA's efforts to help vaccinate the global population. He had also thanked the American government for including the Maldives as one of the countries receiving vaccines from them.

Minister Naseem said that with the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine, children between the ages 12 - 18 will now be vaccinated.

In her remarks, Ambassador Teplitz reaffirmed the commitment of the Government of the United States of America to continue working together to further strengthen the dynamic partnership between the two countries.

The Government of the United States of America has so far contributed over USD 5.4 million to the Maldives COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, including a grant aid of USD 2 million, multiple donations of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), PCR machines, ventilators, and related equipment, as well as donations through several multilateral agencies such as IAEA and UNICEF.

Today's ceremony was attended by Ms. Catherine Haswell, UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Marjan Montazemi, UNICEF Country Representative, Dr. Nazneen Anwar, WHO Representative along with senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Defence and the Embassy of the United States of America in Colombo.