Malta will start recognising COVID-19 vaccine certificates issued by Australia from this Friday, Health Minister Chris Fearne has announced. 

It is the latest development in a process which started with the recognition of certificates issued by EU member states and was gradually extended to include the UK, the US, and some other countries and territories including  Serbia, Gibraltar, Jersey and Guernsey and passes issued by the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

The Superintendent of Public Health, Charmaine Gauci, said last week that the authorities were also considering whether to recognise certificates by Canada, but they faced a problem in that such certificates lacked a QR code, which is needed to safeguard authenticity.

Vaccination certificates are needed by all people wishing to visit Malta without having to quarantine.

The authorities only recognise certificates issued 14 days after the second dose of the Comirnaty (Pfizer), Spikevax (Moderna) or Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca), or one dose of Jannsen (Johnson & Johnson).