People are still facing problems downloading their vaccine certificate, even though the document has become crucial for travel. 

To date, more than 237,790 certificates have been downloaded, meaning around 25 per cent of those currently eligible to access them have not yet done so.

While many may have chosen not to retrieve them, others are reporting persistant problems and the health ministry says most are down to issues with verifying information. 

One disgruntled vaccinated person said he was “technically, ready for travel” on June 25, having received his second AstraZeneca vaccine on June 10.

However, since then, he has been unable to obtain the required digital certificate.

He said he called 145 for advice and was informed that his second dose may have been incorrectly recorded at Boffa Hospital.

Like others, he was told to send an e-mail to covid-certificate@gov.mt but days passed, more phone calls were made, reminders sent… and no replies were received, meaning he has been unable to fly.

You must have a vaccine certificate to enter Malta without quarantining. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Anyone who is fully vaccinated should be able to download their Maltese Vaccine Certificate and the EU's Digital Covid Certificate two weeks after their last jab.

Since Wednesday, only those in possession of a vaccine certificate are allowed to travel to Malta without quarantining. There are exceptions for people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, children under 12 and those who were abroad and already planned to return. 

Michael Kaden also commented on Times of Malta’s Facebook page that many foreign residents still could not obtain their Maltese vaccine certificate from the website and that e-mailing the government did not lead to any solution. 

“In these cases, the right to freedom of movement will be violated, as of Wednesday,” he said, taking the matter a step further by warning the health minister to “prepare for court cases”.

Parents of vaccinated children have also expressed concern about how to download their certificates, given that they do not have ID cards and, therefore, no document number that is required for the process. 

One worried father, who is travelling with his son on Saturday – the day he should be able to download his certificate – said he has been in limbo since he started asking questions about this as soon as the boy had taken his first jab early in June.

Malta has had a high take up of the COVID-19 vaccine. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The problem was acknowledged, he was told the authorities were “working on it” and that a code would be sent to be able to download the certificate.

But to date, the man has nothing in hand and would at least like to be reassured of when he should expect the code so that he would not have to worry about his son being unable to travel back home with him. 

“At least, allow us to use the vaccine card to return home,” he suggested, saying the trip he cannot cancel has turned into a “nightmare” while he waits on tenterhooks.

Responding to concerns, the Health Ministry said that any issues are being addressed by a dedicated team.

It explained that “due to the rapid deployment of vaccination venues and the large number of data entry points, the vaccination team is implementing a data verification and validation programme to ensure that all information related to the vaccine brand, dates and batch number are correct”, she said.

The ministry acknowledged that there were cases where this was being corrected due to data entry errors, pointing out that the faults were not technical, but in most cases, related to verification and validation of information.