The question of booster vaccines for teenagers has been festering unresolved for weeks, with booster shots for teens between 12 and 17 not yet receiving official approval from either the European Medicines Agency (EMA) 0r Belgium's Superior Health Council.
But with many wishing to have the additional dose and winter holidays hanging by a thread, the Flemish Government has taken matters into their own hands and now offers the third shot to teenagers on a voluntary basis. This also makes it possible for under-18s to go on ski holidays to countries such as Austria or Italy without issues.
In a show of solidarity, Flanders announced that teenagers living in the Brussels-Capital Region or Wallonia can also get their booster dose in the region – a call that has been met with consternation in Flemish vaccination centres that do not have enough shots.
"The decision to also vaccinate Walloon and Brussels youths was already taken last week, but we still have some practical issues to iron out," Bart Croes, a spokesperson for Flemish Health Minister Wouter Beke, told The Brussels Times. A consultation between Beke's cabinet and the vaccination centres will take place today.
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A number of vaccination centres around the Capital Region have made it clear that they will only vaccinate their own residents. There are "simply not enough vaccines" to also give boosters to others, according to the mayor of Zaventem, Ingrid Holemans.
"Only [Wednesday] evening, we received a mail from the Agency that Brussels and Walloon teenagers are also welcome, while last week they said that Flanders did not guarantee the vaccination of Brussels and Walloon youth," she told Bruzz. "We then ordered the number of vaccines for the people on our territory, but this changes things completely."
She stressed that she does want to help young people from other regions "but it cannot be that we have to postpone the vaccination dates we have planned for our own young people, or that we have to send them home because there are not enough vaccines."
Beke's cabinet stated that vaccines and funding will currently be provided until April.
'Kafkaesque' arrangements
The vaccination centre in Vilvoorde has been overwhelmed with "young people from Brussels who are trying to make appointments at the vaccination centre in Vilvoorde; we have to say 'no'." Mayor Hans Bonte told VRT that he has appealed to the Brussels Government to quickly approve the boosters for teenagers in order to relieve the pressure.
Bonte said that it is "completely unfeasible" to vaccinate teenagers from neighbouring regions as well as local residents: "It is absurd that this is already possible in Flanders and not in the Brussels-Capital Region, which is just one metre away so to speak. Completely Kafkaesque."
Flanders is aware of the fact that a lot of young people in Brussels also want to be vaccinated, perhaps because they go to school in Flanders, have activities on the outskirts of Brussels, or one of their parents lives in Brussels or Wallonia with the other in Flanders.
"Having clarity quickly is important," Croes said. "But this decision requires some additional planning, and we ask for understanding from the young people."
