Indian news agencies have reported that the first international shipment of India’s COVID-19 vaccine will be sent to the Maldives on Wednesday.
India has commenced a large-scale campaign to get the country’s citizens vaccinated against COVID-19. Two vaccines are being administered in India, including CoviShield. The second vaccine is Bharat BioTech’s Covaccine. Both vaccines have received the green light for inoculation.
While the Indian Ambassador to the Maldives, Sanjay Sudhir has previously stated that an India-made COVID-19 vaccine would be supplied to the Maldives, Indian media reported that the vaccine being supplied to the Maldives is Oxford-AstraZeneca’s CoviShield vaccine.
According to news reports, the first shipment of vaccines will arrive in the Maldives at 2:00 pm local time. All preparations and arrangements are in place, and the Maldivian government has issued all necessary permits, said the reports. Maldives is the first country to which vaccines are being supplied from India.
However, neither the Foreign Ministry nor any other government entities have confirmed the news.
The Health Emergency Operation Centre opened registration for those who wish to receive COVID-19 vaccine earlier on Monday. At the time, the centre said it could not give a timeline on when the vaccines will arrive in the Maldives.
