Autumn vaccination campaign starts
In Flanders, about eighty vaccination centers are ready to provide the necessary autumn boosters. This is done with vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna that have been adapted to the omikron variant of the corona virus.
At the start of the campaign, 1.3 million adapted vaccines will be available for Flanders. More deliveries will be made in the coming weeks. More than 1.6 million people have now been invited. This week there are almost 340,000 confirmed shots with the modified vaccine. The new vaccination is not mandatory, but it is recommended for people with weakened immunity, cohabitants, people over 65 and health care providers. The priority groups are invited first. The rest of the adult population will also receive an invitation. Because the intention is that by the end of October everyone who wants to will have had the chance to get an autumn booster.
“The purpose of the autumn vaccination is to strengthen protection against serious disease caused by COVID-19 before the next outbreak of infections”, says the website Laatjevaccineren.be of the Agency for Care and Health. Just like with the general practitioner or in the hospital, it is still mandatory to wear a mouth mask in the vaccination center, says Lien Thoelen, spokeswoman for the agency.
All together, it concerns about 4.5 million citizens who will have the chance to be vaccinated before the beginning of November. Up to 800,000 injections per week can be administered in Flanders. At the end of October, we will evaluate whether we can switch to a capacity of 400,000 injections per week, says Flemish Minister of Health Hilde Crevits (CD&V).
“The vaccination centers with the many employees and volunteers have made our Flemish vaccination campaign a success to date. We now call on their professionalism, drive and friendliness again. We are very grateful to these people and are happy that they are also participating in this autumn vaccination campaign. are ready again,” said Minister Crevits.