Mothers in Malta who have been prohibited from attending school Christmas concerts because of their vaccine status are raising alarm over the discrimination they’re facing. 

At the start of November, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne announced that such concerts will be allowed to go ahead, only if students do not mingle with the audience and those in attendance are fully vaccinated and wear masks.

The number of COVID-19 cases has climbed over the last few weeks. However, hospitalisations remain low despite the surge, with Superintendent Charmaine Gauci admitting in court recently that that should be the only concern. 

Some schools have decided to hold their concerts online, but many are still going ahead with their planned live show. 

One mother who spoke to Lovin Malta raised concerns that she will be blocked from attending the concert because off her vaccine status. She has contracted COVID-19 in the past and regularly tests high for antibodies in her system. 

She feels that in her current position, it is not necessary for her to taken the vaccine, especially because of some adverse side effects of taking the jab. 

She made it clear that she has no opposition to being tested before entering or wearing her mask indoors. She just finds it puzzling why her vaccine status should block her from attending her child’s Christmas concert.

“If you’re pregnant and unvaccinated it’s fine to attend, leaving the rest of us totally excluded and discriminated against,” she said. 

Malta’s remaining soft measures against unvaccinated individuals continue to generate controversy, particularly among the very few who have refused to take the jab. In Malta, more than 90% of people have taken the vaccine, well above the ‘herd immunity’ threshold the government long said it was seeking. 

Uptake continues to be high, with around 30% of the country registering for a booster jab. It has had positive results with hospitalisations remaining low, leading many to question why the government is dead set on introducing discriminatory laws against the unvaccinated.

For the mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, she cannot understand why the government has precluded those who refused to take the jab for all events. She again stressed that a negative test should be more than enough. 

She called on the government to provide free antibody testing to those who have recovered from COVID-19, to use as a different document to the vaccine certificate. 

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