Malta has increased its order of the vaccine against a possible influenza pandemic from 350,000 doses to half a million in order to cover people who may need to be given two injections.
The order has been placed and accepted, Health Minister Louis Degaura told The Times following an emergency meeting for EU health ministers in the UK to discuss recent developments regarding avian influenza in Europe.
"We are taking no risks. Although currently there are only theories about what can possibly happen, we want to be fully prepared," said Dr Deguara.
"Malta is now one of the most well-prepared EU countries for a possible pandemic and we have taken measures beyond the recommendations of the World Health Organisation and the EU."
Meeting in London, EU health ministers stressed that it was critical to communicate clearly and objectively with the public to reduce the likelihood of sending confusing messages.
They reiterated the importance of distinguishing between avian flu, normal seasonal flu and pandemic flu.
Speaking during a press conference, EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said the ministers noted that at present there are no reported cases of avian flu contracted from birds in humans and that the current outbreaks of avian flu pose a very low risk to the general population of Europe.
However, the ministers agreed that it remained very important to keep under constant assessment the EU's state of preparedness for an outbreak of human pandemic flu.
Mr Kyprianou outlined the main findings from replies the member states had sent to his recent letter asking for information about the state of pandemic preparedness in their countries.
Echoing the message from the WHO, the Commissioner said that levels of preparedness varied significantly between member states and stressed that more work was needed on how to make vaccines and antiviral drugs available in the event of a pandemic.
He also outlined plans for a preparedness exercise called Common Ground next month, which will be a simulation exercise focusing on communication between key players in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak.
Ministers have been asked to be involved as part of this exercise and the lessons learnt will be discussed at the Health Council on December 9.
Meanwhile the EU on Thursday banned the importation of live birds and poultry from Russia following a suspicion that avian flu has reached this country.