Health care professionals have said that they want the Covid-19 vaccines to be rolled out as fast as possible.

In a statement, the Medical Association of Malta, said that it is “surprised and disappointed to hear the very low targets for vaccination declared on Sunday, which alarmingly reveal mathematical predictions which are completely wrong.”

MAM praised the Health Ministry for “effectively procuring 500,000 doses from Pfizer, 100,000 doses from Moderna, and 1 million doses from Astrazeneca. It has been declared that was promised a supply of 10,000 vaccines per week.”

However, it said, “the vast majority of healthcare professionals are feeling let down as to date only approximately one out of ten has received the first dose of the vaccine, especially when is public knowledge that the government has in its freezers many more vaccines than front liners and about 19000 vaccines remain idle in the freezers.”

The Union pointed out that “clearly with proper organisation all healthcare professionals may receive both doses in the next four weeks.”

“The Health authorities should also aim to vaccinate the whole population as fast as possible so as to make everybody safe and to kick start the economic recovery as soon as possible,” MAM said.

The stressed that “most alarming, was reports that “the health authorities aim to provide only 5000 vaccinations per week, meaning that vaccination of the Maltese population would take more than 3 years.”

MAM has made its calculations public and invited the health authorities to “mobilise its own health care workers to get Malta out of this crisis as soon as possible.”

It stated that vaccination rates should “only be limited by outside factors affecting supply and not by local inefficiencies in organisation.”

To vaccinate 6000 front liners in five weeks (2 doses)

12000 doses /35 days means:

342 doses must be given per day including weekends and public holidays, or better 2394 per week

To vaccinate Maltese adult population 500,000 in 5 months (2 doses)

1,000,000 vaccinations whole population

Exclude children 1-(16/80) = 800,000 800,000/150 days means

5333 vaccinations per day including Sundays and public holidays 37,331 vaccinations per week.

To achieve herd immunity and vaccinate 70% of the population

70% of population 5333x 0.7 = 3733 vaccinations per day 26,131 vaccinations per week.

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