Prime Minister Robert Abela told journalists on Monday that he is “confident” that Malta will not be impacted by vaccine shortages, as drug companies say that they would be delivering less vaccines than initially planned.

In January, Pfizer said it would be deliver fewer vaccines than planned to the European Union this month, citing changes in its manufacturing processes as the reason, while AstraZeneca also that the production problems on their end will result in a substantial cut in deliveries as well.

However, Prime Minister Abela was not overly fussed about this news, saying that he was confident that Malta would not be impacted by shortages and that the country was being pro-active by engaging with EU bodies on the matter.

“We are working hard to ensure we reach our vaccination targets”, he said after emerging from a cabinet meeting at the Fgura local council on Monday.

Almost 20,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered so far, with health frontliners and people over the age of 85 currently receiving the jab.  Some 1,100 people have received both doses of the vaccine.

The government has said that it plans to reach herd immunity by this summer, although this timeframe may be reduced once the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved – something which the European Medicines Agency will be analysing at the end of this week.