Health Minister announces arrival of AstraZeneca vaccine

Health Minister Chris Fearne has confirmed the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine into the country.

Hailing it is as an “other cannon against Coronavirus”, the Deputy Prime Minister made the announcement on Twitter.

The vaccine, produced by a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, is the third vaccine to arrive in the country. The other two are Pfizer and Moderna.

A fortnight ago, the European Medicines Agency recommended that the AstraZeneca vaccine be approved for distribution in the EU.

Following quarrels between the company and the European Commission, it was agreed that by next March, AstraZeneca would provide nine million more doses to member states. This follows initial cuts in deliveries as a result of production problems.

Till Saturday, 35,676 vaccine doses were administered. 7,594 of which were second doses.

Malta currently has 2,401 active cases, after 134 new cases were recorded. Two deaths were registered on Saturday.