The Flemish Health Minister Hilde Crevits (Christian democrat) has announced figures on this year’s autumn coronavirus booster vaccination campaign. Since the launch of the campaign on 15 September that more than 400,000 people in Flanders have already been to get their booster jab. More than 1.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been ordered by the authorities in our region for the autumn booster vaccine campaign.
Although this might seem a lot, the virologist Steven Van Gucht believes that more doses are needed given that two million people in Flanders are considered to be at risk from the ill-effects of COVID-19. Since mid-September those that wish to have been able to go and get a booster vaccine to protect themselves against coronavirus. The lion’s share of the vaccines are being administered either at GPs surgeries or at pharmacists. In Antwerp, a vaccination center has also been reopened at the Kinepolis cinema complex.
Of the 400,000 people who have already been vaccinated, 217,629 have done so at their GP’s surgery, 117,330 have gone to a pharmacy, 49,067 have received their booster jab at the nursing home where they live, and 19,000 patients have been vaccinated in hospitals and other medical facilities.
The virologist Steven Van Gucht believes that this is a good start to the vaccination campaign, but that there remains room for improvement: “In total, two million people in Flanders fall into the groups of people that have been advised to be vaccinated. Some 20% have of these have already been vaccinated”.
Professor Van Gucht hopes that as many people aged 65 and as possible will opt for both a coronavirus vaccine and vaccination against seasonal flu. “Usually, 60% of people over 65 get vaccinated against the flu. I hope that we will reach this percentage for coronavirus.”
However, Professor Van Gucht stresses that COVID-19 and the flu are two very different diseases. Currently hospitals are treating patients with COVID-19, but not patients with flu. Furthermore, flu is predictable, whereas the evolution of a coronavirus epidemic is not.