Air Malta cabin crew still not vaccinated despite COVID-19 risks, union says
Union of Cabin Crew says workforce should receive the COVID-19 vaccine along with other transportation workers next week
12 March 2021, 3:48pm
by Laura Calleja
Air Malta cabin crew want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine along with other workers in the transport sector
Updated at 7:00 pm with Air Malta statement
Air Malta cabin crew want to be included with other transportation workers for COVID-19 vaccine eligibility, insisting they are at the forefront of risk with flights to the UK where the new virus variant originated.
The Union of Cabin Crew raised alarm that despite transport sector workers being asked to start taking the vaccine from next week, its members were not included in the startegy.
Updated at 6.55pm with Ministry of Health statement
No adverse effects have been reported in Malta from a batch of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine which is being investigated in several countries about a possible link to blood clots.
The Ministry of Health said on Thursday that the Malta consignment of the ABV5300 batch was used up several weeks ago.
It said the Malta Medicines Authority had recommended the continuation of the vaccination programme as planned, more so since the European Medicines Agency had declared that there was no indication that it was the cause of complications reported in Austria. The consignment from this batch was used in Malta several weeks ago and no doses remain, the ministry said. The health authorities have not received any reports of reactions by the persons who received it.
Over one in 10 current COVID-19 cases are children, with the highest number in the 11-17 age group, prompting Church and independent schools to hold out while monitoring the situation closely.
Among the active cases, 83 children are aged up to five years, 85 are between six and 10 and 175 are in the 11-17 age group, adding up to around 12 per cent, according to the Superintendent of Public Health, Charmaine Gauci, who was on Tuesday taking questions from Times of Malta readers.
Last September, before the opening of schools, less than five per cent of those with COVID-19 were children.
The number of infected children was also highlighted in August, when they made up around 1.5 per cent of active cases.
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Updated 11am, adds Secretariat for Catholic Education, Church Schools Association statement
Tension and anger are mounting among education staff who have not yet received vaccination appointments and their schools are demanding a clear timeline on the vaccine roll-out for their “forgotten” teachers.
De La Salle College, with nearly 300 staff members in its primary, secondary and Sixth Form sectors, including St Benild’s School, has not received any appointments yet, Stephen Cachia, director of Educational Mission, La Salle Malta, said.
“They cannot understand how vaccination appointments are now being given to government officials who work in offices and are able to telework while they seem to have been forgotten,” he remarked.