Vaccine certificate should not be only criteria for travellers, MHRA says

While a vaccine certificate will help re-build people's confidence to travel, it cannot be the only criteria for one to be allowed to travel, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) warned.  

In a statement on Friday, the MHRA said that if that were the case, summer travel would be reserved to this group only. Therefore, the MHRA recommended that the vaccination certificate not replace the negative COVID test and the criteria for travel should be a negative COVID-19 test or a vaccine passport. 

This week, Health Minister Chris Fearne initiated talks with the EU and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and the European Medicines Agency about the possible introduction of a vaccine certificate, ensuring that people travelling from one country to another have been vaccinated before they travel. 

The association said the reality of the vaccination situation is that the vulnerable and those over 65 will be vaccinated by May. This timeframe they said is even later in many other countries.  

MHRA President Tony Zahra said that the last 12 months had hit the tourism industry even harder than a "tsunami." 

"The vaccine cannot arrive fast enough, and whilst we had hoped that the vaccination rate would be quicker, we understand that there are manufacturing bottlenecks.   We are hoping that there will be more companies licensed to manufacture vaccines in which case the present estimates of people vaccinated per week can be improved. Until it does, we must enable SAFE travel through the requirement of a negative test OR the said Vaccine Certificate,” Zahra said.

READ MORE: Malta has widest COVID vaccine reach in Europe, Chris Fearne says