Ministry of Finance has announced the decision to purchase additional COVID-19 vaccines to the Maldives through the Serum Institute of India (SII).
In a statement released to announce the special exemption to the state procurement policies under Public Finance Regulations, Ministry of Finance said the government has decided to sign an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Limited and the Serum Institute of Life Sciences Private Limited to purchase additional COVID-19 vaccines to the Maldives, as part of efforts to vaccinate the entire population. The ministry said exemptions have been applied to the state procurement policies to procure the COVID-19 vaccines to the Maldives, as the vaccines are only available through limited sources and are being issued around the world under special procurement policies. Noting COVID-19 vaccines are essential to safeguard the country amid the ongoing pandemic, the finance ministry stated the government believes this agreement has to be signed in order to ensure a sufficient supply of vaccines to the Maldives.
The finance ministry stated in order to implement the agreement, some clauses of the Public Finance Regulations will be suspended for the duration of the agreement. As such, the ministry revealed the clauses to be suspended are clauses 10.43, 10.52, 10.67 and 10.71, which involves the tender stages, contract awarding, advance payments and liquidated damages.
COVID-19 vaccination commenced in the Maldives on February 1, with the first 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccine granted by India. Covishield is manufactured by SII, based on the formula of Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
So far, over 186,000 people have been vaccinated in the Maldives, including over 105,000 in the Greater Male’ Region and over 81,000 in the atolls.