Health Protection Agency (HPA) has started training healthcare workers for COVID-19 vaccination.
HPA stated vaccination training is being undertaken with the aid of World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). HPA said online training sessions have begun for healthcare workers in the atolls, noting 290 healthcare workers from hospitals and health centres have taken part in the training. HPA said the training sessions aim to inform participants on important issues related to COVID-19 vaccines, such as ways to monitor side effects and creating public awareness on the vaccines.
On January 20, the Maldives received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines from India. The first batch includes 100,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India based on the research done by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
Furthermore, the Maldives is also set to purchase 700,000 doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca Singapore as part of efforts to vaccinate the entire population. Maldives is also expected to receive free COVID-19 vaccines for 20% of the population through the COVAX Facility, established to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines to all countries around the world.
Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem had expressed hope that Maldives could become the first country to vaccinate its entire population against COVID-19.