Malta To Accept All NHS AstraZeneca Vaccine Certificates, UK Transport Secretary Announces
The Maltese government has backtracked on a decision announced last week to ban UK travellers who have received a particular batch of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from entering the country.
“The Maltese authorities have amended their travel advice so anyone who has an Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK (regardless of manufacture location) is able to travel without being turned away – with all vaccines having gone through rigorous safety and quality checks,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a tweet earlier today.
Last week the UK foreign office warned travellers that those who were administered a vaccine with batch numbers: 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003 would be denied entry into Malta.
UPDATE: The #Maltese authorities have amended their travel advice so anyone who has an OXFORD AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK (regardless of manufacture location) is able to travel without being turned away – with all vaccines having gone through rigorous safety and quality checks.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) July 14, 2021
Malta was placed on the UK’s green list last month meaning that travellers will not need to quarantine upon their return to the UK, provided that they have been vaccinated.
Since then, the island has seen a surge in cases, driven in part by the arrival of the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus. Over the span of a week, Malta’s active cases have increased from under 100 to 1000.
While active cases continue to increase, there hasn’t been a proportional increase in hospitalisations or deaths.
Malta has introduced new restrictions on travel to the island as well as ordered the closure of English language schools to slow the spread of the virus.
As of this afternoon, 352,523 individuals had been fully vaccinated.
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