Despite the ease of the restrictions, will Malta still be going for the fourth dose?
Blog post by Marica Micallef
After a flow of mixed messages from the local health authorities regarding whether Malta will be administering the fourth dose or not, as pointed out a few days ago by this site[1], it seems that Chris Fearne is indicating that Malta will be giving the fourth dose.
This was pointed out by the media portal Illum[2] whereby it stated that according to Dr Fearne, the uplifting of restrictions and the administration of the fourth dose will depend on “studies” that are being done on the elderly and the vulnerable regarding their level of immunity and their body response to the booster:
“It-tneħħija tar-restrizzjonijiet u anke d-deċiżjoni dwar ir-raba’ tilqima se tkun qed tittieħed skont ir-riżultati ta’ assessjar li qed isir fuq l-immunità tal-anzjani u persuni vulnerabbli li ħadu l-booster erba’ xhur ilu.
Il-Ministru Chris Fearne qal dan waqt il-programm Xtra fejn spjega kif bħalissa qed isiru dawn l-istudji biex ikun magħruf jekk l-immunità hijiex biżżejjed b’saħħitha.
Saħaq li r-riżultati se jkunu magħrufa fi ftit ġimgħat oħra u abbażi ta’ dawn ir-riżultati, ikunu jistgħu jittieħdu d-deċiżjonijiet.
Kien hawn li appella għas-solidarjetà waqt li saħaq li l-pajjiż ma jistax jirriskja li jpoġġu f’riskju l-ħajja tal-anzjani u persuni vulnerabbli.”
[“The removal of the restrictions and also the decision on the fourth vaccine will be taken according to the results of an assessment being carried out on the immunity of the elderly and vulnerable people who took the booster four months ago.
Minister Chris Fearne said this during the Xtra program where he explained how these studies are currently being carried out to find out if the immunity is strong enough.
He stressed that the results will be known in a few weeks and based on these results, decisions can be made.
It was here that he called for solidarity, stressing that the country could not risk putting the lives of the elderly and vulnerable people at risk. “
What are these studies about Dr. Fearne? Are we having the so-called experts monitoring the elderly and the vulnerable?
Or is this another deal or no deal affair with the usual tactics of taking the fourth dose acceptable so to protect the vulnerable and the elderly and so that we remove the restrictions? At least, after pressure from the general public and restaurant owners, the restrictions are going to be relieved. In this, Malta is again following countries like the UK where there was also an announcement about the lifting of some of the imposed restrictions.
In the meantime, “Denmark became the first country in Europe to unveil plans to offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine Wednesday, as countries increasingly turn to an additional jab to combat a rise in coronavirus infections globally despite a lack of evidence for the effectiveness of the additional dose.”[3]
So, if we already have a European country to be planning a fourth dose, does this mean that Malta will also follow suit or not? What will the Maltese nation bargain if it decides to take the fourth dose?
To conclude, is this why the version of the Omicron variant changed from having a deadly variant to a variant that is not deadly but more infectious, in order to make the nations believe that in order to decrease the chances of getting infected, they must continue lining up for more jabs and more jabs?
[1] https://simonmercieca.com/2022/01/16/the-local-health-authorities-need-to-give-a-clear-message-regarding-the-fourth-dose/
[2] https://www.illum.com.mt/ahbarijiet/politika/64539/ittneija_tarrestrizzjonijiet_u_tteid_tarraba_doa_talvain_jiddependu_minn_studji_li_qed_isiru?fbclid=IwAR1_LCYEHJgmzxIPtPyo6utZu9PIeC296EicwVWg9HPVlEl-enfo1WpLKy4#.YecXof7MJPZ
[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/01/12/denmark-first-in-europe-to-offer-4th-covid-vaccine-dose/?sh=192f60f24432