Almost half of all COVID-19 deaths among over 60s this year came from the five per cent of people in that age group who did not take a vaccine booster dose, Charmaine Gauci has revealed.

Figures are even starker for over 60s who are completely unvaccinated: although they account for less than one per cent of over 60s, one in every six (16%) deaths among this age group has come from this cohort.

The public health chief revealed the statistics in her bi-montly Times of Malta column Ask Charmaine, as she argued for the importance of booster protection among older people.

Around 95 per cent of people aged 60 and older – roughly 120,000 people according to population data - have received a vaccine booster dose, leaving just five per cent of that age cohort, or 6,000 people, who are either not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all.

That much smaller group of over 60s have been disproportionately likely to die while infected with COVID-19 in 2022 so far, Gauci noted, accounting for 40 per cent of deaths within that age group.

The risk of death from COVID-19 rises rapidly with age, and that rings true when looking at virus-related deaths in Malta this year so far: more than 92 per cent of those deaths have been of people aged 60 and over.

A World Health Organization regional study published in November 2021 calculated that Malta’s widespread vaccine uptake among over 60s had managed to avert 860 deaths up to that point – meaning COVID-related deaths within that age group would have been 74 per cent higher had there been no vaccine available.

“The appeal is, therefore, for those who have not had their booster to do so as quickly as possible,” Gauci wrote. “Needless to say, those with no vaccination at all should proceed without further hesitation to have their vaccine.”

Malta has one of the world’s highest uptakes of COVID-19 vaccines, with more than 77 per cent of adults having received a booster dose of the vaccine as of Wednesday.

Vaccination is also available for children as young as five, although uptake among those younger, lower risk age groups is significantly lower.