Even though Belgium now has a vaccination strategy in place, everyone will have to continue to follow the coronavirus restrictions for some time to come, according to Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
"We cannot get distracted now," De Croo said in the House on Thursday afternoon, after a series of questions on Belgium's vaccination strategy which was announced earlier the same day.
If all candidate vaccines that Belgium has subscribed to are given market authorisation, the country should receive 22.4 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19, which will be enough for its entire population.
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"There is hope, but we are not there yet," he said, adding that Belgium as a country has no control over the date and production of the vaccines.
In the most favourable scenario, and if the EU gives the green light, vaccines will be available at the beginning of January, De Croo said.
"We have to be ready for that best-case scenario. That is our task, and we will be ready," he said, echoing his statements on Wednesday that Belgium will be ready on 5 January.
However, vaccinating 11 million Belgians will take time, and the government is mainly dependent on different producers, Federal Health Miniter Frank Vandenbroucke told VRT News.
“I am afraid we will be working on it for a whole year, but I do not dare put an exact date on it,” he added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
