The Pfizer vaccine is expected to be given to adolescents between 12 to 15 year olds before the next scholastic year in September of this year, Superintendent of Health Charmaine Gauci said.

Gauci was asked by the press on Friday, during her weekly health, briefing if Malta plans to give 12 to 15 year olds the Pfizer vaccine immediately, as the vaccine passed the clinical trials held by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

In response, Gauci said that an application must be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before the vaccine is implemented in Malta, and thus the vaccine cannot be distributed imminently.

She noted that Malta is prepared to give the vaccine to this group and will start vaccination when the application is approved by the EMA.

“The more age groups that are protected the better,” she said.

“We will be prepared so that when the scholastic year starts in September, this group will be vaccinated”, Gauci noted.

Adolescents between the ages of 12 to 15 will be the next cohort to be eligible for vaccination. Those above the age of 16 years were the most recent cohort to be eligible, after applications opened for this group last Monday.

The Pfizer vaccine is also authorized by the EMA for those aged 16 and over, and is currently being distributed to people from this age group in Malta.

Malta is currently speeding through its vaccine rollout, and has administered 453,711 doses of the vaccine as of Friday. Malta also reached a milestone last Wednesday, where over 8,000 vaccines doses of the vaccine were registered in one day.