Belgium’s first centre for vaccinations against Covid-19 opened on Tuesday on Avenue Pacheco in Brussels.
Frontline workers including doctors, dentists and nurses above 50 years old received their first shots of the vaccine.
The centre is run by the nearby Clinique Saint-Jean and doubles as a testing centre, which it has been for several months.
The experience as a testing centre, and direct access to the Moderna vaccine, made it possible for the Pacheco vaccination centre to open first.
“We are still in a start-up phase,” said Inge Neven, head of the Brussels Health Inspectorate, explaining that “there are not many vaccines. Nevertheless, we wanted to start now in order to test all the tools.”
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The vaccination centre can currently administer some 100 to 150 shots per day, “but in the long term we should be able to increase that to 900 per day,” Neven said.
A total of ten vaccination centres should open in the Region. In mid-February, Brussels expects to open centres at the Heysel site in the north of Brussels, in the commune of Forest, and in Schaerbeek.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
