President George Vella has been given the COVID-19 vaccine during a live-streamed ceremony Tuesday afternoon.

Vella, 78 and a medical doctor himself, is the most prominent Maltese leader or politician to be inoculated on the island thus far. He said he hopes that his vaccination would help the public alleviate any concerns over getting vaccinated.

He also highlighted his confidence in the vaccine’s effectiveness – stating that they are definitely good for our health after all the trials, tests, and approvals that these vaccines have gone through, despite the misinformation and mistrust online surrounding them.

Currently, Malta has only received shipments of the Pfizer vaccine which, whilst being rolled out since 27th December, has been widely criticised as being too slow despite a large supply of vaccines currently in storage. The Pfizer vaccine requires a total of two jabs over a 21-day period.

It is expected that over the next few months and weeks, vaccines of other developers – such as Moderna and AstraZeneca – will be received by Malta to further increase the supply of available vaccines.

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