Pharmacists will be able to continue providing flu vaccinations throughout 2024, under a new Royal Decree published in December extending this authorisation. Medical unions believe this is "crossing the line", however.
With the circulation of the seasonal flu virus expected to intensify between now and the end of January, pharmacists are urging people at risk to protect themselves by getting vaccinated.
Since last autumn, pharmacists have administered no fewer than 288,562 flu and 636,810 Covid-19 vaccines. More than 70% of these patients vaccinated in pharmacies were over 60 years old, the Belgian Pharmaceutical Association noted in a press release on Tuesday.
For the time being, the flu virus is still circulating at a low level – experts expect it to increase in circulation in late January or early February – so flu vaccinations are still useful, according to pharmacists.
'Crossing the line'
The Belgian Association of Medical Unions (ABSyM) denounced on Tuesday that the Federal Government had crossed a major line by allowing pharmacists to administer the flu vaccine for a further year.
"Systematically, essential tasks performed by doctors are being taken away from them," said Jos Vanhoof, chair of the Flemish section of ABSyM. The association had fiercely opposed this extension of vaccination rights to pharmacists from the outset, but was not heard.
ABSyM fears that the Belgian Pharmaceutical Association will not stop there. "In a memorandum, pharmacists are also asking to be authorised to extend chronic medicines, to be able to treat simple infections and to measure the sugar levels of diabetic patients," the doctors' union stated.
The unions previously described the law as a "slap in the face for general practitioners working tirelessly."
