Flemish booster campaign is halfway, puts Flanders among Europe's frontrunners
The Flemish corona booster campaign has reached 2.5 million people so far and remains on schedule. This puts Flanders among Europe's frontrunners where the booster campaign is concerned. It will gain further speed in the month of January, with the aim of vaccinating all adults by the end of that month.
The figures were released by the Flemish health agency "Agentschap Zorg en Gezondheid" yesterday. "We have administered a booster jab to 2.5 Flemings so far. This target has been reached a week earlier than planned", the Flemish Health Minister Wouter Beke said. The momentum puts Flanders on fourth place in Europe where the booster vaccination rate is concerned - only behind the U.K., Iceland and Austria.
The vaccination campaign will take a step back next week, as quite some vaccination centres will remain closed, despite a formal request by the health authorities to remain open as much as possible. About 160,000 jabs have been scheduled for next week, compared to 430,000 for the week after that.
The campaign will gain speed in January, with the aim of boostering all the people who want this by the end of the month - this would imply vaccinating another 2.5 million citizens, or about 700,000 in the second, third and fourth week.
At the moment, it's mostly people in their forties and fifties who are receiving an invitation, although there are major regional differences. The area around Asse and Affligem (Flemish Brabant) has one of the lowest vaccination scores in Flanders, but "work is being done to close this gap" the agency said.