Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1333591
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 JANUARY 2021 NEWS KURT SANSONE MALTA will be buying 80,000 more doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in a bid to intensify the inoculation pro- gramme over the coming weeks. Prime Minister Robert Abe- la told parliament on Tuesday evening that Cabinet authorised an increased spend of €2 million to acquire the additional vaccine doses from Moderna. He also announced the arrival of more than 14,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Moderna is one of two corona- virus vaccines so far authorised by the European Medicines Agency, the other being Pfizer-BioNTech. Malta ordered 100,000 doses of the vaccine from Moderna and 670,000 from Pfizer. Abela's announcement comes on the back of a growing row be- tween the EU and vaccine maker AstraZeneca that announced last week it will cut supplies to the 27-member bloc. Malta has a million vaccine dos- es ordered from AstraZeneca, which is expecting to receive EU approval by the end of the week. Health Minister Chris Fearne said efforts were underway to in- crease the overall Moderna vac- cine doses to 270,000 as a backup plan in the eventuality that vac- cines from other manufacturers are delayed. Abela said the additional vac- cines ordered from Moderna and the arrival of the fresh batch of Pfizer vaccines form part of gov- ernment's efforts to intensify the vaccine rollout over the coming weeks. He was delivering a ministerial statement in parliament on last week's online meeting of Europe- an leaders that discussed the new COVID-19 variants and a com- mon approach to travel restric- tions to prevent the spread of the pandemic. Opposition leader Bernard Grech called out the government for not using community phar- macies and clinics to distribute the coronavirus vaccine, insisting the rollout was not as fast as ex- pected. Grech also asked the Prime Minister to flesh out what addi- tional restrictive measures the government was considering for February, something Abela an- nounced earlier in the day. Abela was also asked by Na- tionalist MP David Thake to sub- stantiate claims that Malta was in pole position to achieve herd im- munity and return back to nor- mal by May. The Prime Minister accused the Opposition of wanting extreme restrictive measures, which were unnecessary and risked creating a backlash. Abela said he welcomed the Opposition's U-turn on lock- downs and was now advocating against them. In a combative mood, Abela insisted government will adopt a balanced approach. "We do not want to risk all the progress achieved because of one carnival weekend in February… we will seek a balanced approach in new restrictive measures that will not include a lockdown or curfews," the Prime Minister said. Vaccination rollout Health Minister Chris Fearne gave a breakdown of the vaccine rollout over the coming days. He said that vaccines normally arrive in Malta every Monday and by the following Monday these are all distributed, bar the second dose which is immediately re- served for the individual. "We are on track but this does not mean we can reduce vigilance just now… Science and solidarity will see us win this battle and re- turn back to normal," he said. Timeline • From Wednesday 27 January, vaccinations will start being given to cancer patients awaiting therapy • From Thursday 28 January, appointments will start being issued to people living in the community who are 80 years and older • From the end of this week pharmacists will be the frontliners next in line to start receiving the jab • From Wednesday, next week members of the police force, the army, environmental health protection, CPD and other non- medical front liners will start receiving the vaccine Robert Abela 'convinced' Malta will pass Moneyval test NICOLE MEILAK PRIME Minister Robert Abela told industry leaders during an MCESD meeting that he is "convinced" Malta will pass the Moneyval test. Abela confidently told MCESD that the work carried out over the past months in terms of good gov- ernance and financial crime will see Malta pass the evaluation. Government submitted their fi- nal report to Moneyval experts last October in a bid to avoid being grey-listed as a high-risk country for financial crime. Malta had initially failed a first as- sessment from Moneyval in 2019, after which government was given a year to patch up any legislative gaps in terms of money laundering and terrorist-financing. Last September MaltaToday re- vealed that US embassy represent- atives are casting a shadow over Malta's Moneyval test. American government enjoys observer status in the Moneyval monitoring body, and on top of this retains clout inside the Financial Action Task Force, the international umbrella organisation against money laun- dering. Malta's Moneyval assessment will be reviewed by this task force. The theme of today's MCESD meeting was centred around gov- ernance. Both Robert Abela and Minister within OPM Carmelo Ab- ela fleshed out a variety of reforms and steps taken by government in the area of good governance. "In a short amount of time we carried out reforms without precedent. We worked to foster discipline and seriousness, and strengthen institutions that re- quired changes," the PM said. Carmelo Abela gave the example of the FIAU. "In 2015, the FIAU had 15 employees. Projected for 2021, the FIAU is looking to have 158 employees," he said. Prime Minister Robert Abela (centre) addressed a meeting of the MCESD, flanked by MCESD chairperson James Pearsall Government plans to intensify the vaccine rollout over coming weeks Cabinet authorises €2 million spend to buy more Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses