Malta awaiting EMA green-light for Pfizer vaccinations in children under 12

Sep 26 2021

A spokesperson for the health ministry revealed to The Malta Independent on Sunday that the Maltese health authorities are currently awaiting direction from the European Medicines Authority before administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to children under the age of 12.

Last week, the pharmaceutical company said that its vaccine works for children aged 5 to 11 and it plans to seek United States authorisation for this age group very soon.

The vaccine, developed by Pfizer and German counterpart BioNTech is readily available for individuals over the age of 12 but many parents await the green light for the younger age groups ahead of the beginning of the scholastic year and creeping fears of the contagious Delta variant. The spokesperson for the health ministry revealed that the Maltese health authorities are awaiting the go-ahead from the EMA before starting to administer the vaccine to the group aged between 5 and 11.

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What is a ‘solar pavement’ and why should Malta have more of it?

Sep 26 2021

This morning Malta’s first solar pavement was installed within Għeriexem road’s pavement in Rabat, potentially paving the way for a greener infrastructural future for Malta. The pilot project will attempt to use light to generate electricity across the promenade and hopefully result in more solar pavements across Malta and Gozo.

#Today @InfraMalta started installing #Malta‘s first solar pavement at new Gheriexem Road promenade, #Rabat. Using #renewableenergy to energise the promenade’s lighting. More importantly, a pilot project for more solar pavements in other localities soon. @followianborg @MaltaGov pic.twitter.com/S9sT4Jhplu

— Fredrick Azzopardi (@F_Azzopardi) September 25, 2021

The 40 sq.m footpath is made up of between 30 and 40 photovoltaic panels and may generate up to 40% of the road’s lighting, reducing an estimated 21 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Infrastructure Malta CEO Fredrick Azzopardi took to Twitter to share the news and a few photos, alluding to a hopeful increase in solar pavements across the Maltese Islands in the near future.

Does Malta need more projects such as this?

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Most youth in favour of e-scooters while majority resists, survey reveals

Sep 26 2021

A new survey published by MaltaToday revealed that while the majority resisted the use of electric scooters on roads, 30.7% agree that scooters should be used, with a majority of respondents aged between 16 and 35 being in favour. On the other hand, a considerable amount of the 63.2% of respondents which answered no were aged 36 and over, as opposed to the majority of youth being in favour.

The survey also revealed that the least resistance came from the Northern Region, where 36.4% of respondents agreed with the use of scooters on roads.

Notably, Gozo was relatively split on the use of the scooters, with 47.1% of Gozitans voting against the use of scooters on roads while 44.4% have no problem with the use of the vehicles. Despite being a clean, alternative means of transport, electric scooters have often been the subject of scrutiny and controversial discussion due to multiple users irresponsibly driving and parking them.

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Charity swim around Gozo to raise funds for Victory Kitchen

Sep 26 2021

On Monday, local charity organisations Victory Kitchen and Happy Initiative will be conducting their Annual Charity Swim fundraiser and will see Rafel Sammut and Andrew Arrigo attempt to swim 37 kilometres in under 14 hours.

The Victory Kitchen was set up at the beginning of the pandemic with the goal to feed the families which were affected hardest by the pandemic, feeding up to 18,954 families with 96,424 meals so far. The pair will attempt a continuous unassisted non-stop swim around Gozo and have been training under the wing of record-breaking Wave of Change founder Neil Agius.

Sammut said that they “strongly believe that no one should go to bed hungry, and we use this as our battle cry for this year’s swim to try and raise enough funds to donate 120,000 meals for the next 12 months.”

Donations can be made via BOV IBAN: MT87VALL22013000000040010942082 or Revolut/BOV Mobile to 99441950.

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