The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has opened registration for pregnant women who wish to receive the Pfizer vaccine.
According to HPA, vaccine will be given to registered individuals on a first come first serve basis. Due to limited stock of the Pfizer vaccine doses, the vaccines will be given among pregnant according to priority groups as follows:
- Healthcare staff
- Other frontline workers
- Pregnant women at high risk
- all other pregnant women
The Maldives received 5,850 doses of the Pfizer vaccine under the COVAX program. Out of these, over 4,000 vaccines are still available. HPA said both doses of the vaccine will be reserved from what is available for those eligible to receive the vaccine.
The government has opened vaccine registration for pregnant women while doctors have been expressing concern over the increasing number of pregnant women with COVID-19. Doctor at state-run Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), Dr. Mohamed Ali Saturday said around 50 pregnant women are currently infected with COVID-19. According to the doctor, one of the pregnant patients is in critical condition and is being treated on ventilator support.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), while pregnancy puts women at higher risk of severe COVID-19, very little data are available to assess vaccine safety in pregnancy. Pregnant women may receive the vaccine if the benefit of vaccinating a pregnant woman outweighs the potential vaccine risks. For this reason, pregnant women at high risk of exposure to COVID-19 or who have comorbidities which add to their risk of severe disease may be vaccinated in consultation with their health care provider
