Second Dose Of The Vaccine Can Be Administered Earlier Than 8 Weeks Under Special Circumstances

Whilst administering the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to those living in the Male’ Area has been discontinued as of 15^th March – apart from those falling into specified categories by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) – the administration of the second dose is not expected to start until sometime in April as Authorities had decided to keep an eight-week gap between the two doses.

Nevertheless, as of now, under special circumstances – the second dose may be administered earlier than the 8-week gap. According to the Health Emergency Operation Center (HEOC) in cases of emergency or in a situation a person is required to travel and could not be back within the time for the second dose – they can request for early administration upon the evidencing with the relevant documents.

People residing in the Male’ area that fall within the exception groups will start to receive the first dose starting from this Saturday. These groups include:

- People at high risk of developing complications. This includes people above the age of 50 years
- People in isolation & those who have not completed 28 days after being diagnosed with COVID-19
- People in quarantine, either being contacts or due to traveling
- People having to delay taking the vaccine because of a medical condition

Vaccination in the Maldives began on 1^st February and since then a total of over 200,000 people have received the first dose of the vaccine across the country. Recently, the green light has been given in the country to use the Sinopharm and Pfizer-BioNTech for emergency use.