The Chinese Ambassador to Maldives Zhang Lizhong, on Thursday, confirmed China's decision to aid 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Maldives.
According to the ambassador, the governments of the two countries are currently discussing arrangements to ensure an early arrival of the vaccine doses.
Tagging President Ibrahim Solih and Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed, the ambassador tweeted that "China is committed to making vaccines a global public good".
The Chinese COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm has an efficacy of 79.34 percent, and has been administered to over a million people in China, in addition to being approved by United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.
Following a donation by the Indian government, Maldives received 100,000 doses of the COVISHIELD vaccine, constituting enough to inoculate 50,000 people.
COVISHIELD was manufactured by the world's largest vaccine producer Serum Institute of India, using a formula prepared in a collaborative effort by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. British Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency approved the vaccine on December 30, 2020.
With Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA)'s approval to administer the drug under "emergency usage", Maldives kicked off its immunisation drive with the vaccination of President Solih, Speaker Nasheed and Chief Justice Ahmed Muhthasim Adnan.
Currently, the island nation records a total of 16,276 virus cases of which 1,879 are active cases, in addition to 14,337 recoveries and 54 deaths.
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