Latest data from the EU's health agency suggests that the higher the country's vaccination rate, the lower its death rate.

The European Commission published a chart on Tuesday that showed Malta continues to have one of the highest uptakes of vaccines in the bloc, and has the lowest death rate. 

According to the European Centre for Disease Control, 92% of the adult population is fully vaccinated, while the country is the only one to have a zero death rate per million population over the last 14 days.

It is beaten only by Ireland, which has a vaccination rate of 93%, the chart shows.

At the lower end of the scale, Bulgaria has only vaccinated 29% of its population, and has the highest number of deaths compared to its population at 325 people per million.  

The European Medicines Agency has previously warned its members to "close the gap" on vaccinations to stop its surge in COVID-19 cases, with the un-jabbed driving a rise in hospitalisations. 

It is due to discuss an application by Pfizer-BioNTech to extend its COVID-19 vaccine to children aged five to 11 on Thursday.

Commenting on the vaccination rate data, Malta's public health chief said vaccines "have consistently shown that they are a powerful tool".

Charmaine Gauci said the country had followed an evidence-based approach in its actions during the pandemic.

"Booster doses have been rolled out through a strategy to protect those who would benefit most," she said.

"The data shows persistently that vaccines are highly protective against COVID-19-related severe disease, hospitalisation and death."