Children aged between 12 and 15 years old will start receiving their Covid-19 vaccine invitations as from today, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced on Friday.

They are the latest cohort to start receiving the jab after the vaccination programme was widened to all those over the age of 16 last May.

Children will receive the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine after it was approved for use on this age cohort by the European Medicines Agency last month.

Fearne had told the public that the vaccination programme for children would only open towards the end of June, after the school examination period.

Almost 80% of Malta’s adult population has received at least one dose of the vaccine so far, while up until Thursday, just under 300,000 people were fully vaccinated against the virus.

Health authorities are pushing for more and more people to get vaccinated, even as case numbers remain very low.

On Thursday, The Malta Independent reported that around 7,000 people will be receiving their second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine three weeks earlier than planned so that they can get full immunity from the virus sooner.

That comes as concerns over the potential spread of the Indian Delta variant increase.  Studies in the UK found that a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine provides some – but much less – protection against the variant, but that the full two-dose course still provides ample immunity.