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OPINION 10.6.2021 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 T he UK government refused to promote Malta to the elusive 'Green List'. Needless to say, this was a big disappointment especially for our tourism industry and the overall re- covery of our battered economy. I think it is fair to say that this deci- sion was a big surprise to industry ex- perts although the Brits are probably determined to reach herd immunity before they allow their citizens to travel abroad. e United Kingdom has given the first dose to circa 40.3m people and both jabs to approximately 28m, mean- ing half of all UK adults are fully vacci- nated. e target is 70% and until they reach this milestone, we can expect to remain on the 'amber' list which effec- tively means tourists returning back to the UK would need to quarantine for 10 days and take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8. I don't think we could have done any- thing to get on the 'Green list' but it will mean we lose June as summer month. Hopefully, a strong September will make up for June. e game changer earlier this year was the vaccine but now the game changer is that our key markets (UK, Germany, Italy, France, etc) reach herd immunity. We have done very well to reach herd immunity ourselves but we now need our key markets to follow suit. We are after all in this together. We also need Malta to 'activate' it's full participation in the EU's Digital COVID Certificate project. Currently, according to the EU Commission's web site, Malta is still '…In test phase' and not technically ready to connect to the EUDCC gateway meaning we are not in a position to issue and/or verify EU digital certificates which confirm that EU passengers either have an approved vaccination certificate, a negative test result or have recently recovered from COVID-19. Why public health is hold- ing back on this, when other EU coun- tries like Germany, Spain and Greece, to mention a few, are already using it, is beyond me but we really need to move up a gear and get up to speed. is is the surest way of resuscitating tourism, breathing life into freedom of move- ment and harnessing technology to our advantage. Our tourism industry depends on it and in so doing we also avoid crowds of people accumulating in our airport who are forced to use anti- quated paperwork to gain entry into our island. To my mind, Malta being on a 'green list' must mean that we are one of the first using the EU's Digital COVID Cer- tificate gateway; that we scrap the ob- ligation for fully vaccinated tourists, also coming from 'Green' countries, to have to submit a negative PCR test (which can be as old as 72 hours); that we give airlines and the tourism indus- try in general confidence to keep Malta connected. We sometimes assume that tourist will always come to Malta but in this pandemic there has been a lot of disruption and as we approach the recovery we need to garner first mover advantage and the most obvious deci- sion is for Malta to be one of the first us- ing the EU's Digital COVID Certificate gateway. In fact, I really can't under- stand why we are hesitating or being so selfishly shortsighted and conservative and this to our economic detriment. It is as if our mindset is still pre-herd immunity. I mean why, for example, are we still quoting the number of daily in- fections? Don't public health officials realise that it is extremely rare in a post- herd immunity world, for someone who is fully vaccinated to end up in hospital or die if they catch the virus (includ- ing the much hyped Indian variant)? I am sure they know this since virologist Prof. Chris Barbara recently told the press that Pfizer is 88% effective against the Indian variant and AstraZenca 60% whilst Pfizer is 93% effective against the Kent variant and AstraZenca 66%, which means hospitalisations or death are highly unlikely. Unless of course, real herd immuni- ty is when 70% of the population has been fully inoculated? If so we are soon to reach this milestone too (later this month) and can change our mindset to a post-herd immunity one. is will mean that we stop forcing people to wear a face mask and the daily COV- ID briefings can stop amongst a host of other restrictions being lifted once and for all. My point is that Malta is, or will be very soon, on the definitive 'Green List' and this means the country as a whole (including our conservative public health officials) must adopt a post-herd immunity mindset for the benefit of all. If we keep thinking and behaving in the same manner we did pre-herd immuni- ty, we are going to suffocate our econ- omy and forever lose our freedoms. Also coming to Malta for holiday will become cumbersome. Let's now believe in the science of vac- cines and have the courage to move for- ward. Green means Green and herd im- munity means herd immunity. Alleluia! The 'Green' list

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