Maldives has opened the COVID-19 vaccination drive for tourism workers. Ministry of Tourism has announced industry workers to register for the COVID-19 vaccination.
A circular issued by the Ministry today requested workers of the tourism industry to register for inoculations through the my.health portal.
Registration is open for all workers including those working in resorts, safaris, guesthouses, and hotels. Information required is also available on the circular and through the portal.
For expatriate workers, the passport number of the employee is required. The deadline for registration is 9th February 2021. The Ministry added that the batch of those being inoculated starting from tomorrow will include 10,000 tourism industry workers.
Maldives has begun the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine yesterday, 1st February 2021. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and First Lady Fazna Ahmed were two of the first to receive their first doses of vaccine, among frontliners and other government officials including Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed and Chief of Justice of the Maldives Uz Ahmed Muthasim Adnan.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said that the “COVID-19 Dhifaau” campaign will see inoculation of the entire population within the next six months.
The “Covishield” brand vaccine administered, was developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and had the same formula as the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. On January 20, 2021, the Government of India donated a shipment of 100,000 doses of the vaccine to the Maldives.
Earlier last week, the Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) approved the vaccine for emergency use in the Maldives, and the Government is currently equipped to inoculate 50,000 individuals. Work is ongoing to acquire more vaccines and to increase dosage capacity to cover the whole population. The vaccine rollout programme’s initial phase saw the drive kicked off in Malé, Addu and Kulhudhuffushi cities. It will target at-risk individuals over 50 years of age or have underlying medical issues; health and social workers; and essential frontline staff. Vaccines will not be administered to pregnant women or children under 16 at this time.
