The first Covid-19 vaccination in Malta has been administered, with a nurse who works in the Infectious Diseases Unit in Mater Dei being the first to receive the jab on Sunday morning.

A short live video uploaded by the Health Ministry showed the nurse receiving the vaccine, which arrived in Malta yesterday, in the presence of Health Minister Chris Fearne and Prime Minister Robert Abela.

55 healthcare staff will receive the vaccine today as Malta's vaccination drive begins.  Some 10,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are already in Malta, having arrived on Saturday, with another batch expected to arrive on Monday.  Malta has around 600,000 vaccines ordered from Pfizer-BioNTech, with thousands of other vaccines ordered from other makers such as Moderna and AstraZeneca.

Throughout the last few days of December and the first days of January, health frontliners will receive the jab, followed by residents of elderly care homes and those over 85 years of age.    The vaccination process will then move on in stages depending on how quickly Pfizer and other vaccine makers can supply the vaccine to Malta.

The government has said that it is confident that the whole of Malta's population can be vaccinated by summer.