The first COVID-19 vaccinations for the elderly and frontliners could start being administered during the first weeks of 2021, upon receiving an appointment letter, Health Minister Chris Fearne has announced.

The vaccination is split over two doses, Fearne said while speaking on Paperscan, a TV programme on One. He also noted that the letter will indicate when and where the person can get vaccinated to avoid queues and overcrowding at clinics and health centres.

The first cohort to receive the jab will be those who come into contact with vulnerable, including nurses, pharmacists, police and civil protection officers, and those over the age of 80. Once these people receive the jab, vulnerable and younger people will be next in line. Fearne also clarified that the vaccine is free.

It’s not the first time that talk of the vaccine has reached locals’ ears. Fearne had previously told Times of Malta that the islands would obtain the jab “within days” of its release. Will it be mandatory, though? The Superintendent of Public Health Prof. Charmaine Gauci previously noted that they “do not feel the need to make it obligatory” since the public understand the seriousness of the pandemic and how much it has affected families and frontliners, she said in one of her weekly briefings.