Malta Administers 9,500 COVID-19 Booster Shots In A Single Day As Surge In New Cases Continues
Malta’s health authorities yesterday administered 9,500 doses of the COVID-19 booster shot as new active cases rise dramatically and the country races to vaccinate as many people as possible.
“Yesterday, in a single day we administered 9,500 shots of the COVID-19 vaccine. This wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of an efficient team of dedicated professionals,” Health Minister Chris Fearne said in a tweet this morning.
With anyone over the age of 18 now eligible to apply for a booster shot, Fearne urged the public to do so without delay.
Il-bieraħ, f’ġurnata waħda tajna 9,500 #tilqima kontra l-covid. Mertu kbir lit-team effiċjenti ta’ professjonisti dedikati. Kun ċert li int ukoll tirreġistra għall-booster. https://t.co/xDyYSLM0tY pic.twitter.com/npSXSVwCZV
— Chris Fearne (@chrisfearne) December 28, 2021
Malta, like much of the rest of the world, is currently going through a surge in cases with active cases having increased by over 5,000, from 1,406 to 6,519 over the past two weeks.
The country’s successful vaccine rollout saw it succeed in vaccinating over 92% of the country the first time around. So far, 190,162 booster doses have been administered.
The Omicron virus – the new variant of concern that is spreading rapidly across the globe and fast becoming the dominant strain of the virus – has been shown to evade most antibodies developed through previous COVID-19 exposure, as well as the vast majority of available vaccines.
The variant has also been shown to be significantly milder than the Delta variant, with the UK Health Security Agency saying earlier this week that it was between 50% and 70% less likely to result in the need for hospital care compared with previous variants.
It is however considerably more transmissible than previous variants of concern, meaning it will infect a larger proportion of the population therefore still presenting a considerable risk to healthcare systems.
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