Malta's health authorities are following the advice of the European Medicines Agency and extending the expiry date of Pfizer vaccines by three months, Times of Malta can confirm. 

According to a spokesperson for the health ministry, the agency recently allowed Pfizer to extend by three months the date of its COVID-19 vaccine. The jabs were originally set to expire six months after production date. 

This meant that vaccines that had originally been given an October expiry date can now be used until January. The Maltese authorities have taken this advice on board. 

Times of Malta is informed the health authorities are presently using vaccines with such an expiry date when giving out the booster doses.

The EMA's decision to extend the shelf life beyond the original date comes as countries start rushing to administer booster doses after it emerged that immunity from the vaccines starts to wane after a certain period. 

Malta is currently giving booster doses to the elderly aged over 70, anyone in the education sector and healthcare workers. Those over 60 will be administered the extra dose next, with the rollout for this cohort expected in December. 

On Friday, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced the health authorities had decided the booster dose will be given to anyone who is eligible, with those over 45 to be offered the jab in January. 

MUMN collecting data on expired vaccines

Meanwhile, when contacted, nurses' union president Paul Pace said that nurses who are administering COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to healthcare workers have been instructed to inform the MUMN when they come across vaccines that are expired.

He said the MUMN condemned the situation at Mount Carmel Hospital where the vaccine was being presented to healthcare workers already extracted into syringes - without the vial being shown.