This year's uptake of the free influenza and COVID-19 vaccines is below expectations, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela told parliament on Monday.

“We had hoped for a higher uptake of the vaccines,” Abela said, adding that the vaccines were the best way to combat disease and avoid deaths, as well as alleviate pressure on the hospital.

He was replying to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Katya De Giovanni, who asked for information about the vaccine uptake.

Apart from the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines, which are available for all those aged over six months, senior citizens aged 65 and over are also eligible for vaccination against pneumococcal infections, through a vaccine known as PCV 20.

All three vaccines are being offered free of charge at health centres across Malta and Gozo.

Figures provided by the health minister's spokesperson to Times of Malta show that 33,417 people have taken the influenza vaccine so far, while 12,247 have taken the pneumonia vaccine.

Just 6,610 people took the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We urge people - especially the vulnerable and the elderly - to take not one or two of these vaccines, but all three of them,” Abela said.

He said that while the uptake of the flu vaccine was “encouraging”, that of the COVID-19 vaccine had been negatively impacted by “bad press in social media” and the spread of conspiracy theories.