Malta has ordered enough doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines to vaccinate the entire population within a span of six months, Health Minister Chris Fearne has announced.

As part of deals negotiated by the European Commission, Malta has so far been assured of a stock of vaccines from AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson.

Negotiations are ongoing with Purevac, Moderna, and BioNtech and Pfizer.

“Malta was instrumental in reaching this deal to ensure EU member states receive the vaccine at the same time,” Fearne said. “The fear was that large countries would be served first and small ones, like us, would be left out. Thanks to our work, Malta will be in the first group of countries worldwide to receive this vaccine and we have ordered enough doses to vaccinate the entire Maltese population within six months.”

If everything goes well, Malta expects to receive its initial COVID-19 vaccine doses “at the start of next year”.

Fearne also referred to the success of this season’s flu shot, whereby 100,000 people were administered the vaccine within a week on the back of a national health campaign urging people to ensure the hospitals don’t have to deal with both influenza and COVID-19 patients.

Another 150,000 vaccines will be administered in the coming weeks.

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