Prime Minister Robert Abela has denied pushing a narrative that Malta has already returned to “normality” despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We’re not in normality and won’t get there from one day to the next, even though some people are trying to push a narrative that I’m giving off this message,” Abela told a conference of the Labour Youth Forum last night. 

“What I said is that the vaccine signals the start of a return to normality. However, I didn’t want to say that we’ll never return to normality or that we’ll return there God knows when and make people lose heart.”

Abela recounted one of his first COVID-19 related meetings at Castille with Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci at the start of the pandemic. 

“Prof. Gauci said she never saw the colour of my face change as quickly as it did that day, and that’s the truth. I remember feeling sick to the stomach when I heard the prediction that thousands of people were going to die. Every death saddens me but we managed to resist this prediction.”

He downplayed criticism that Malta’s vaccination strategy is too slow, arguing that the majority of countries worldwide have yet to even start vaccinating their people.

“While I understand there’s some discomfort that our rollout isn’t fast enough, the absolute majority of countries don’t yet have a vaccine.”

What do you make of the Prime Minister’s comments?