A vaccination centre will open at the Heysel site in northen Brussels in March, Brussels Health Minister Alain Maron announced on Wednesday.
Besides the centre at the Heysel, “there will also be another in the centre of Brussels,” he told French-speaking radio Bel RTL on Wednesday morning.
Phase 1B of the vaccination programme, which would give people over 65 and part of the group of people at risk access to the vaccine, should begin in April, according to Maron.
Within this framework, “we have been working to convert a number of testing centres into testing and vaccination centres,” he said, “and we are going to work with the communes for other even more decentralised areas.”
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As for the way the vaccine will be offered to the public, there is no strategy in place yet. “We will be able to summon people, or ask them to register on a site, as is the case for tests,” Maron said.
He also insisted on the need for what he called “a real vaccination.”
He explained that “we are vaccinating as quickly as possible and the Regions will vaccinate at the same pace. We don’t want to vaccinate by halves. I’m very keen to speed up the pace but in the best possible conditions.”
Belgium's launched its official large-scale vaccine rollout on Tuesday, with the campaign facing criticism due to its slow start.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times