Malta still waiting for second batch of flu vaccine

A second batch of influenza vaccines has not arrived yet with Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci unable to indicate when Malta was expected to receive them.

The seasonal flu vaccines had to arrive by 1 November as part of a two-phase approach adopted by the government to inoculate as many people as possible for free.

However, while the first batch of 100,000 was delivered and administered last month within a matter of days, the second batch of 100,000 had to reach Malta to start being administered from 1 November.

People aged over 55, young children and people with chronic conditions were given priority in the first batch. Vaccination in the second round had to open up for the rest of the population.

In her weekly briefing on Friday, Gauci said the uptake of the vaccine was excellent and the authorities were “waiting for the second batch to be delivered”.

However, she did not indicate when the vaccine will be available again.

She acknowledged that not all vulnerable and aged people had managed to get vaccinated in the first round.

During last year’s flu season, government had ordered 100,000 vaccinations and uptake stood around 90,000.

This year, the authorities have mounted a campaign to get more people inoculated with the seasonal flu vaccine to minimise the risk of patients contracting COVID-19 and the seasonal flu simultanously.