Belgium intends to vaccinate people under 18 years old as well once the adult population has received its Covid-19 vaccination, according to epidemiologist Pierre Van Damme.
Belgium new and faster vaccination strategy only focuses on adults, but minors will also be part of the campaign, he told the parliamentary committee on Friday.
"Sooner or later, the intention is to go to the youth populations as well, from the moment the results of the paediatric studies come in," Van Damme said.
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That means that the initial focus will be on people over 18, but there should be more clarity by the time the summer holidays come around, according to him.
While announcing the strategy, Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke also said that "young people" could be vaccinated before the summer. "Surely this is very good news for the group that was thought to come all the way to the back."
Additionally, while Moderna’s vaccine has been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for use only from the age of 18, Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine can be used for people starting from 16 years old.
More information on the accelerated vaccination strategy can be found here.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
