The health authorities will in the coming days be issuing exact guidance to pregnant women on COVID-19 vaccination, Charmaine Gauci, the superintendent of public health, said on Wednesday.

She was replying to questions on Times of Malta's Ask Charmaine programme.

The Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on Sunday 'strongly advised' pregnant women to take the COVID-19 vaccine in view of virus complications being seen in pregnant women.

Gauci said the local health authorities are evaluating health data, the situation abroad, latest advances and manufacturers' views before issuing their guidance.  

Follow the programme below.

Gauci acknowledged that the number of new COVID-19 cases is going down, a consequence of the decision taken in the middle of last month to make it mandatory for tourists to produce vaccination certificates.  

She said the authorities expect case numbers to continue to go down as long as there were no large public gatherings, which could cause a spread. She said the authorities are also still seeing clusters of cases at workplaces, and the advice remains for people to work at home as much as possible,

Seven-day moving average is 85 virus cases

The current seven-day moving average of cases is 86 with a fifth of cases related to travel. Authorities reported 82 new cases on Wednesday.

A total of 30 virus patients are currently receiving treatment in hospital, with five of those requiring intensive treatment. Four of those five ITU patients are not vaccinated. 

Gauci said that the proportion of cases requiring hospital treatment is significantly lower than in the previous year. 

She said studies looking at whether or not a vaccine booster jab will be needed are ongoing, but that preparations are advanced should one be needed. 

Lifting of measures

Asked about the lifting of restrictions and a return to normality, Gauci said this was a million-dollar question. Measures would be eased in small steps, she said. And some measures should be retained, such as frequent washing of hands, using sanitisers, staying at home when sick, and keeping children away from school when sick.

The lifting of measures, she said, was guided by the number of cases, positivity rate, the situation at hospital, the number of patients in ITU and the vaccination coverage rate.

Opening of schools

As for the reopening of schools late next month, Gauci said talks are being held locally and abroad. She observed that most children aged over 12 are likely to be vaccinated before the opening of the school year, but measures would be needed to continue to protect the young in particular.

Asked about the recognition of vaccination certificates for arrivals from Canada, Gauci said the issue was the verification of such certificates, and Canada posed a particular problem in that its certificates lacked a QR code.

The programme was presented by Claire Farrugia.