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OPINION 07.01.2021 Kevin-James Fenech Kevin is the founder and owner of JOB Search - jobsearch.mt and FENCI Consulting fenci.eu. He is a management consultant and business advisor by profession, focusing on strategy, human resources and recruitment. He has a passion for anything related to business and has written about the topic for over 10 years in most major newspapers or journals W e can either bounce back to recovery like Israel undoubt- edly will or we can limp on like the EU giants- France and Germany. Israel has already inoculated 10%+ of its population (circa 950,000 citizens out of a population of >9m) and set to be one of the first countries in the world to be COVID-19 'safe' which will mean normal life and economic recovery will materialise before many EU economies. Malta needs to ensure that by Easter at least 60-70%+ of the population has been inoculated. If this is achieved we will start a strong bounce back to recov- ery by early June 2021 which will mean we end the year very strong. We have a population of circa 440,000 which I will round up to 450,000. My guess is that 10-20% of the population, for one reason or another, will not or can not take the vaccine. Herd immu- nity will be reached when 60-70% of the population are inoculated. If as a country we set ourselves the target of 4 April 2021 for circa 315,000 people to have received the vaccine and herd immunity achieved this equates to roughly 22,500 people per week over the next 14 weeks bearing in mind that each person needs to be injected twice. For comparison's sake, Israeli is vacci- nating about 150,000 people per day. I know that the government has gone on record to say that herd immunity will be achieved by the beginning of sum- mer which means June 2021 but this to my mind is too late. If Malta were a large country with a big population like Germany or the UK for example, I would understand but we are micro-state with a population that doesn't even exceed 500,000 and to my mind should have an Israeli type of vac- cine roll out plan which sets out to be one of the first countries in the world to have achieved herd immunity by Easter. I state this because our economy and consequently our economic recovery this year entirely depends on tourism. If we get tourism firing on all cylinders this summer the rest of the Maltese economy will kick-start too. ere- fore, 4 April must be our target for herd immunity since tourists booking their summer holidays will do so, in my opinion, from Easter onwards and what better advertisement can Malta & Gozo have then being COVID-19 'safe' by Easter. All of the government's overseas tourism related advertising can be sin- gularly focused on this in March, April and May. To achieve this ambitious target, we need a military approach which is tech- nologically led. Save for our govern- ment not having sufficient quantities of the vaccine in the coming months, I see no reason why the vaccine roll out is not a national priority which everyone par- ticipates in to make Malta COVID-19 safe by Easter. At the risk of being overly simplistic, if we can as a population all vote in a general election over a weekend, why can't we in our majority be vaccinated by Easter? Come on let's unite behind this national effort and set a stretched target: Sunday, 4 April 2021. is will be a mission we can as a peo- ple unite behind devoid of politics and for the economic and public health wellbeing of all. e competitive advan- tage of being one of the first countries in the world to be COVID-19 safe are huge for our overall economic recovery. Lastly, and at the risk of stating the 'Bleeding Obvious', as soon as the old and vulnerable have been inoculated by end of February, the rest of the popu- lation can gradually resume normal life even before Easter and previous inal- ienable freedoms restored. is is the pretext to confidence being restored and the recovery commencing. I don't know about you but I can't wait to go abroad; to go outside and breath fresh air without the fear of being fined for not wearing a face mask; to drink and dine without big brother watching over me; or to simply watch or read news without having more COVID-19 negativity imposed on me. Sunday, 4 April 2021. is is the only date that matters this year. So ignore all the New Year predictions and forecasts, and focus on achieving herd immunity by Easter. Together we can do it and our country will be all the better for it. #Malta_4APR2021 #Malta_4APR2021 Rachel Grech, a nurse working at Mater Dei's Infectious Disease Unit, was the first Maltese person to get vaccinated against COVID-19

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