The PN parliamentary group has denied that any of its members tried to get vaccinated for COVID-19 before they were due to receive the jab.

Health Minister Chris Fearne on Tuesday said he had resisted attempts by several people, including a Nationalist MP, to be bumped up the vaccine waiting list.

He did not give any names but told PN leader Bernard Grech that he would be willing to give him the MP's name in private.  

In a statement on Wednesday, the PN said it "unanimously and categorically" denies the allegations stated by Fearne.

"Once again the government chooses to use the pandemic, and the record number of cases, to score political points in order to try and weaken the Opposition. March should have been a time when according to Robert Abela the country would have recuperated greatly from the pandemic. Instead, deaths and numbers keep on increasing, contact tracing has failed, there is no transparency in the roll-out of the vaccine and our health system are at the brink of collapse," the group said.

"Rather than alleging, the PN states facts and this is why it looks beyond partisan politics in the interest of the common good and the well-being of the Maltese nation," the parliamentary group added.

Fearne's claims about a PN MP trying to jump the queue could end up being the subject of an investigation by the Standards Commissioner, with independent election candidate Arnold Cassola writing to George Hyzler, Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, asking him to verify whether any MPs had sought to be vaccinated before other people.

It true, he said, such MPs should be censured, and if not, it should be the minister who should be condemned. 

COVID-19 vaccination is being rolled out according to people's age, vulnerability and occupation, with the focus having first been on medical front-liners and those aged over 80. Other front-liners including teachers and uniformed personnel are now getting the jab.