Public health chief Charmaine Gauci said she is not aware of people not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine being administered the jab, insisting only those on a pre-approved list were being called in. 

She was approached by Times of Malta after claims on Facebook that there were extra doses at the University vaccination centre that had been given to people who are not yet eligible.

In the post, which was shared in a private group on Facebook, two people claimed extra jabs not taken up by educators were being given to anyone who turned up. 

Asked about this, Gauci said the health authorities have a pre-approved group of people on a so-called back-up list who are called up whenever someone does not turn up for the vaccine. In this way, she said, no vaccines are lost. 

Gauci told Times of Malta she would be looking into the claims made in the post. 

COVID-19 vaccines are extremely temperature-sensitive and must be administered within a specific time. Otherwise, they must be thrown away. 

Earlier in February, between 50 and 60 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been lost because of delays, which the government had blamed on union action. 

In that case, a delay of a few hours had resulted in around 10 vials being lost.