Health Protection Agency HPA says more than 219,000 people in the Maldives are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as authorities continue to drive forward with the mass inoculation program.

The Agency revealed on Friday that that last Thursday, 186 people in the Greater Male' area received that first dose of the vaccine while another 87 from the atolls got their first jabs too.

HPA said that this takes the total number of individuals who had received the first dose of the vaccine to a promising 318,142 and that out of those 219,661 people have now received their 2nd dose of the vaccine and are fully vaccinated against the pandemic.

The Agency confirmed that 4,544 people from the Greater Male' Area received their second doses of the vaccine on Thursday while 2,065 people from the atolls also received their second doses.

The spike in individuals getting their second dose of the vaccine comes after authorities resumed administering the Covishield vaccine in the Maldives after a generous donation from an anonymous donor.

HPA had said that in a bid to control the vaccination queues, the 2nd dose of the Covishield vaccine would only be administered through appointments.

The Agency had set a special portal for individuals to make their vaccination appointments at their own convenience but had urged all to carefully adhere to the appointment timings.