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2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 JULY 2021 There is more than just 'productivity' at stake here Editorial A statement issued by the Malta Chamber of Com- merce, raises issues that go far beyond the primary con- cerns outlined by that organisation. As representatives of Malta's business sector, the Chamber is naturally worried that some of the health measures recently put into place – especially, that fully vaccinated people are put into 14-day mandatory quar- antine, when they are only secondary contacts of con- firmed cases – may have an impact on local business productivity. Once again, this prompted predictable accusations, from some quarters, that the Chamber was 'putting its own economy interests before national health'. But while the reaction may be understandable – it is, after all, the same argument that was used against re-opening the economy too quickly last year – the re- ality is that such measures may end up impacting more than just local businesses. The entire success of the vaccination programme itself may be at stake, too. At its core, the Chamber's argument is rooted in the principle that there has to be a form of tangible 'advan- tage' in getting oneself vaccinated in the first place. In this case, they argue that fully-vaccinated employ- ees should not be forced into a two-week lockdown, be- cause of a secondary (and therefore remote) chance of having contracted the virus. For as Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci her- self recently confirmed, there is scientific evidence to suggest that fully vaccinated people are less likely to carry asymptomatic infection or transmit the virus to others; and with 81% of the adult population now vacci- nated, the spread of the disease poses a less immediate danger of overrunning our health system. This in itself attests to the success of the vaccination programme so far. Not only is the rate of transmission of COVID-19 lower among those who are vaccinated; but so is the severity of the symptoms. According to the rolling 7-day average issued by the Health Authorities, the daily new hospital admissions for COVID-19 re- mains below 0.8% of the total active cases. And yet, in terms of actual infections, we are already back at the sort of daily caseload we last experienced in March this year: when there was a full-blown national health emergency. From this perspective, there is certainly some merit to the argument that the current measures are indeed a little superfluous, given that, despite the rising number of cases, there is no real cause for alarm. Of course, this may all change in future. But whether such changes are for the better or worse, depends to a large degree on the continued success of the vaccina- tion programme in months and years to come. Despite Malta's extraordinarily successful roll-out in 2021, just under 20% remain of the population remains unvaccinated. This is why the Health Authorities are so keen on promoting the efficacy of the vaccines them- selves: not just so that the uptake remains equally high among today's unvaccinated population; but also so that – when the time comes to administer boosters; and when the vaccine itself has to be renewed (depending, naturally, on which vaccination was taken) – the pro- cess will run just as smoothly again. But there is no guarantee that 2020's success will be repeated in future. Like the rest of the world, Malta can- not rest on the laurels of its past achievements. And here is where the Chamber may have inadvert- ently placed its finger squarely on a potential future problem. Soon enough, we will have to once again persuade an enormous percentage of the entire country to place their trust the vaccination programme, as they have done over the last few months. But if there is no practical distinction at all, between how vaccinated and unvaccinated people are impacted by public health decisions… it follows that more and more people will ask themselves why they even both- ered getting vaccinated in the first place. As the Chamber put it: "On one hand employers are being asked to encourage their employees to get vaccinated; when on the other hand, the authorities are not treating fully vaccinated employees any dif- ferently from those who are still refusing to be vac- cinated…" The same reasoning applies just as much to other spheres apart from employment. People in the arts cir- cuit are likewise asking themselves why so many restric- tions are being placed, at public events, even on vacci- nated attendees. Naturally, it is entirely understandable that the author- ities would continue insisting on the use of face-masks, hand-sanitisers, and limiting the number of public gath- erings to only 150. But to also insist on a mandatory PCR test for all chil- dren – regardless whether vaccinated or not – attend- ing a recent open-air theatrical performance, which otherwise met all the other restrictions: that is – as the Chamber's statement put it, in another context – 'most unreasonable'. Under such circumstances, vaccination fatigue is like- ly to eventually set in sooner rather than later; just as 'Covid-fatigue' has arguably set in already. So if the health authorities expect us to continue rely- ing on the vaccine for our protection – as they rightly should – they have to also provide some tangible benefit for those who actually take it. 17 July 2011 After MaltaToday story, government with- draws draft legal notice to sanction illegali- ties THE government has backtracked from issuing a legal notice drafted by MEPA Chief Execu- tive Ian Stafrace, which would have enabled the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to sanction illegal developments on scheduled are- as like Natura 2000 sites if the applications were submitted before January 2011. While making it clear that no such legal notice will be issued, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Culture and Tourism Mario De Marco is now saying that government never had any intention to reverse its zero tolerance against sanctioning illegalities on protected site, which he described as a "cornerstone" of government policy. It was MaltaToday which revealed MEPA's intention to publish the controversial legal notice in last Wednesday's edition. The draft legal notice, seen by MaltaToday, stated: "that the provisions of article 70 of the Environment and Development Planning Act, with regards to Schedule 6 of the Act, shall only apply to new applications submitted on or after 1st January 2011". This would have enabled MEPA to sanction illegal developments to legalise development on protected sites included in Schedule Six of the law. At present the MEPA law makes it clear that no development can be allowed on scheduled properties and does not mention any cut off date from when this law should apply. "In the circumstances, government has no intention of introducing any regulations that will change the effect of Article 70," a spokes- person for De Marco told MaltaToday when asked whether the proposed legal notice will be enacted. At no point did the government spokesper- son deny the existence of the draft legal notice mentioned by Malta Today. But the government spokesperson strongly denied that MEPA had the intention of chang- ing the law to make it easier to approve illegal buildings on scheduled sites. ... Quote of the Week "Those who broke the system cannot fix it and so I promise again that a government led by me will put Malta back on the whitelist within three months" Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech reacting to news that the UK placed Mal- ta among the list of high-risk countries for money laundering and terrorist financing as a result of the country's greylisting MaltaToday 10 years ago