Belgium will begin using the Moderna vaccine in "some hospitals" as of next week, Federal Public Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke confirmed on Tuesday.
Belgium has purchased 2 million Moderna vaccines. Since Monday, 8,000 of them have been in our country, Vandenbroucke told the Parliamentary Committee on Health. Next week 13,000 will be added, in the week of 1 February, 31,000 and in the week of 15 February, another 94,000.
This confirmation means that vaccinations with Moderna can begin as early as next week in some hospitals, he explained. Healthcare personnel in hospitals will be the second major group covered in the vaccination strategy, after residents and staff in residential care centres.
Vaccination against the coronavirus has been going on in Belgium -for several weeks now, but only with vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech. Now that it has received approval for the European market, Moderna can be used too.
On Friday, Belgium announced its accelerated vaccination strategy - aiming to have at least 70% of the population vaccinated by September - which partly counted on the limited supply of Moderna's vaccine the country would receive this month.
The Brussels Times
