Health Protection Agency HPA says a total of 7,862 people received the first dose of the COVID vaccine yesterday in the Maldives.
HPA said that this includes 4,038 from the Greater Male' Area which had recorded 1,897 more than the day before. This came after Health Minister Ahmed Naseem on Monday said that the authorities would stop administering the first dose of the covishield vaccine in the Male' Area starting next week.
HPA confirmed that another 3,779 were vaccinated from the Atolls.
HPA also said that this takes the total number of individuals vaccinated with the first dose to a promising 165,675. This includes 95,362 from the Greater Male' Area and 70,313 from the Atolls.
The agency said that there are 8 vaccination centers and 2 mobile vaccination teams in the Greater Male Area. It also confirmed that authorities have set up 169 vaccination centers in the Atolls.
Yesterday, HPA had confirmed the death of a 45-year-old local man who had received the 1st dose of the vaccine on the day before.
HPA said via Twitter that a 45-year old man on a fishing vessel who was unwell and brought unresponsive to Himmafushi Health Centre has passed away today at 9:13 am.
HPA said that the man was from Alifu Alifu Atoll Maalhos and that he had received the first dose of the covishield vaccine on the 8th of this month at Maalhos.
The Agency said that as per protocol, a full investigation is being carried out to confirm the cause of death.
HPA also said that it is important to note that serious events including death can occur unrelated to the vaccine.
This is the 3rd such case reported in the Maldives where the recipient of the vaccine had died shortly after being given the first dose of the vaccine.
Last month, an elderly couple had died after receiving the COVID vaccine and HPA had said that it would conduct a full investigation of the incident. HPA had not yet revealed the findings of the investigation.
