Malta opens COVID-19 vaccination drive to over 16s

Malta is now accepting registration for the COVID-19 vaccine by anyone aged over 16, while its successful vaccination drive puts it at the top of global rankings of countries with the highest share of vaccinated people.

Over 16s are the latest group to become eligible to receive the vaccine after a staggered rollout that prioritised vaccination for health, education and enforcement frontliners and the elderly, with subsequent groupings focusing on the over 60s, over 50s and so on.

People aged over 30 were able to register their interest in getting vaccinated less than two weeks ago, with the over 20 age band replaced by a wider grouping to further speed up the vaccination process.

Malta’s vaccination numbers are the world’s best, with a tweet posted by Minister for Health Chris Fearne on Saturday indicating that Malta now has the world’s highest percentage of adults who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“Thank you Malta. Let’s keep going,” he said, as he shared a graph showing how Malta had caught up to and overtaken the previous most-vaccinated country, Israel.

Meanwhile, the anticipated date for herd immunity, defined as when 70 per cent of the adult population has been vaccination with at least one dose, has been pushed forward dramatically from its initial end-September timeline.

Business leaders had welcomed a statement by Minister Fearne last month where he indicated that this had moved to end-June.

However, the last projections show that Malta might well reach this milestone this week, if vaccinations continue at the current pace.

Everyone aged over 16 can now sign up to receive the vaccine by clicking here or by calling on 145 to set an appointment.