Charmaine Gauci has played down concerns that a COVID-19 vaccine will be resisted by a large chunk of the Maltese population.

“Public health authorities have been combating this [anti-vaccine] challenge for a while but experience shows us that there aren’t many anti-vaccine lobbyists in Malta,” the Superintendent of Public Health said in her weekly COVID-19 press briefing.

“We’ve always had a good experience with vaccines, particularly with children, among whom the vaccine uptake is over 95%. It is through vaccination that we can control this situation and the European Medicines Agency will only license a COVID-19 vaccine once it has been deemed to be both efficient and safe.”

“Let’s hope that everyone will take this vaccine so we can prevent and control this situation as much as possible.”

Her comments echo those of Health Minister Chris Fearne, who said yesterday that he hasn’t noticed a significant anti-vaccine movement in Malta but rather overwhelming support for a treatment that will see normality return.

Fearne has said that Malta will receive an initial 330,000 doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine, which will make the nation one of the first to protect its vulnerable and healthcare workers on the front lines.

The World Health Organisation has said it doesn’t expect widespread global vaccination until mid-2021.

Lovin Malta yesterday published a poll which asked people whether they’ll take an eventual COVID-19. Out of 4,400 respondents, 66% said they intend to take it while 34% said they don’t.