Around 70 percent of people that received the China produced Sinopharm vaccine has not yet got the second dose, Health Protection Agency (HPA) said on Wednesday.
HPA said 76,662 people has gotten the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine. However 70 percent of them have yet not received the second dose, despite three weeks having passed since the first dose.
Unlike Covishield, the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine can be received after three weeks from the initial shot. For Covishield, a minimum duration of eight weeks is required between the two shots.
As three weeks have passed since they received the first dose, HPA is requesting they get the second dose as soon as possible.
Everyone above the age of 18 is eligible to receive the Sinopharm vaccine.
So far 303,919 people have received the vaccine in Maldives. Out of this 147,682 people received two doses of the vaccine. These were inclusive of both Covishield and Sinophorm, in addition to Pfizer administered to special cases.
However due to difficulty in attaining more Covishield vaccines, administering Covishield has been temporarily halted.
A lot of people within the Greater Male' Area are also eligible to get the second dose of the Covishield vaccine. Second dose of Covishield should be administered between 8-12 weeks after the first dose. However, doctors now say it is alright to administer the second dose as late as 16 weeks after the initial dose.