Malta will achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus quicker depending on the approval of vaccines by the European Union Medicines Agency.

Speaking at a press conference earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne confirmed that the herd immunity timeline will decrease depending on which vaccines are made available for the country. 

“We have thousands of vaccines booked. Herd immunity can be achieved quicker if more vaccines are approved,” he said.

At the moment, the EU has approved the Pfizer vaccine with the Moderna vaccine expected to be approved at some point today by the EU Medicines Agency.

With these two vaccines, Malta is expected to inoculate all vulnerable people by the end of May and achieve herd immunity by summertime, according to Fearne.

However, there are several vaccines still waiting approval by the EU including AstraZeneca and CureVac.

Today marked a grim milestone in the battle against COVID-19 with health authorities announcing a record-number of single day rises in cases.

Though more vaccine candidates means quicker herd immunity, the timeline of herd immunity is dependent on the delivery of the vaccine to the population.

“It depends on how many vaccines arrive in our country and when. It’s going to be an elongated process and we are going to give out what we have and keep some in reserve for the second dose,” Fearne said.

With Pfizer and Moderna, Malta is expected to have 770,000 vaccines by the end of 2021.

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