Health Protection Agency HPA says more than 22,200 people in the Maldives have now received the COVID-19 booster dose.
Authorities in the Maldives are administering a dose of the Pfizer vaccine as the booster dose.
HPA had said that the booster dose is given to those who meet the eligibility criteria which includes having completed 6 months after receiving the 2nd dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (Covisheild/Astrazeneca, Sinopharm, Pfizer).
The Agency said yesterday that a total of 22,299 people in the Maldives have now received the booster dose with all above 50 now eligible for the 3rd COVID vaccine dose.
HPA had confirmed on Sunday that it was preparing to begin giving booster doses for the general population soon after receiving additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine. HPA said that the delay was now due to a global shortage of syringes and that it would announce when it would begin administering the booster dose to the general population as soon as the syringe shipment arrives.
Meanwhile, HPA revealed that a total of 396,369 people in the Maldives has now received the first dose of the COVID vaccine.
HPA said that out of this 366,210 people have now received the 2nd dose of the vaccine and are fully vaccinated against the pandemic.
The Agency had said that there are 6 vaccination centers and 3 mobile teams in the Greater Male' Area and 176 vaccination centers in the Atolls.
Authorities in the Maldives have confirmed that more than 86 percent of the vaccine-eligible population in the Maldives have been fully vaccinated and are looking to achieve 100 percent vaccination before the end of the year.
