About three-quarters of all Flemish children aged 5 to 11 have already received a vaccination invitation and in the next two weeks, some 68,000 children will be vaccinated.
After a few weeks of trial runs, the vaccination campaign for children aged 5 to 11 is now running on full steam: 74% of those in Flanders have already been invited, 1% has already been vaccinated.
Last week, 15,000 shots were administered, and another 40,000 are planned next week. The week after, 28,000 appointments have been scheduled so far. Based on these very preliminary figures, there are 2,721 refusals in this age category, according to Dirk Ramaekers of the Vaccination Taskforce.
"It is a voluntary vaccination, where we think it is very important that the parents, and of course also the child, are well informed and then make a well-considered decision," he told De Morgen.
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"An injection for children is not as obvious as it is for you and me," Ramaekers added. "On the other hand, there is a very positive response to initiatives such as the one in Antwerp Zoo, where vaccination is being carried out in a very child-friendly way."
Parental consent is required for children to be vaccinated, which can be done through the presence of one of the parents accompanying the child when the vaccine is being administered.
However, explicitly refusing a vaccine is also possible, both online and physically at the vaccination centre. If one of the two parents explicitly communicates a refusal, the child may not be vaccinated, even if the other parent takes it at the vaccination centre. After a refusal, the child can only be vaccinated with double consent, or proof of a court order.
Parents can book the appointments for all their children at the same time. As a somewhat lower vaccination rate is assumed for this target group, there is room in the vaccination centres to vaccinate children together. Parents are advised to consult the information channels of the vaccination centre.
