A total 98% of those aged 12 and over have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine, Health Minister Chris Fearne said on Thursday.

And over three-quarters of the population is now jabbed against the virus, he told Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakidou ahead of a meeting at the Health Ministry in Valletta.

The commissioner is on a one-day visit in Malta, and has already dropped by a vaccination centre and the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre.

Fearne hailed her visit as a strong message about the vaccine rollout.

"As you've pointed out before, the vaccine is our main tool to help us fight the pandemic," he said, adding that despite the dark cloud the pandemic had brought over Europe, the bloc's success story remained how it managed to procure jabs and make them available to its citizens in just one year.

In Malta, he said, the government will be able to start lifting restrictions only because of a huge turnout for the jab.

"However, we are not safe until we are all safe. There are other regions in the world that lack behind when it comes to vaccination. As a leader in health issues, Europe needs to ensure that accessibility to vaccines is not limited to European citizens," the minister said.

Referring to Malta's donation of jabs to African and Asian countries, Fearne noted that the EU needed to replicate its jab success story in other parts of the world.

Kyriakidou meanwhile commended Malta for its "excellent vaccination programme", adding that Malta had been a "key player in looking ahead".

She noted that while vaccination was important, it was not enough, and the EU was looking into a therapeutics rollout programme.

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakidou and Health Minister Chris Fearne. Photo: Jonathan Borg