Health Minister Abdulla Ameen has revealed that the government is working to ensure that Maldives is among the first countries that receive a vaccine for COVID-19.

No vaccines that give protection against COVID-19 currently exist although over 150 parties across the world are working against the clock to invent such a vaccine. The recent findings from vaccine trials have been hopeful.

Speaking at a virtual ceremony held on Tuesday to inaugurate COVID-19 management facilities in L. Gan and Ga. Villingili, Minister Ameen warned that the COVID-19 pandemic may not end in the foreseeable future. However, he pointed out that Maldivians have a good opportunity to rise above the pandemic.

“We do not see it. We cannot feel it. We don’t know where it is lurking. The whole world has come to a halt due to such a virus. No medicines that can save [humanity] from this disease are in existence,” said the minister.

Ameen said the Maldives government has worked tirelessly and took practical steps to keep the Maldivian people safe from the disease and to rise above the pandemic. The actions taken by Maldives had been swift and effective, said the minister.

“The government is already working to ensure that the Maldives is among the first countries to obtain vaccines in the event that a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 is invented. I can [proudly] say Maldives was the first country to sign up for the World Health Organization’s ‘Call for Action’ initiative,” said the minister.

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