Maxime Prévot — © BELGAIMAGE
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CDH chairman and mayor of Namur Maxime Prévot is also in favor of compulsory vaccination of the population against the corona virus. “It is normal that the political parties, in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe, first opted for voluntary vaccination. Today, that choice is hitting its limits. We must dare to talk without taboos about the mandatory vaccination of all occupational categories and the entire population,” Prévot said on LN24 on Wednesday.
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Source: belga, dhnet.be, garden
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Last Monday, PS chairman Paul Magnette indicated that he is open to a debate about the mandatory vaccination. His cdH colleague follows two days later. He points to the risk of new variants and to a fourth wave of the pandemic in Belgium. For him, the “public interest” comes first.
Initially, the French-speaking Christian Democrats advocated voluntary vaccination. “But today I am convinced that this approach has reached its limits,” said Prévot.
READ ALSO. PS chairman Magnette wants a debate on mandatory vaccination for the entire population
The Consultation Committee decided in mid-August that healthcare staff must be given a vaccine. The modalities are still being discussed. The GEMS, the group of experts that advises the government, recommends extending this obligation to other professional groups as well.
Just extending the mandatory vaccination to specific professions, such as the teaching staff, is not even enough for Prévot. “We must approach the issue of mandatory vaccination for all occupational categories and the entire population without taboo.”
While more than 76% of the entire population is fully vaccinated in Flanders, the figure is much lower for the other regions. Wallonia has 65% fully vaccinated, German-speaking Belgium 62% and Brussels, not even half of the population (49%).
“If we really want to turn the corona page and avoid continuing to face similar situations in the coming years, we need to achieve a high vaccination coverage and thus suffocate the virus,” said Prévot.
Freedom of vaccinated persons
On the Flemish side, the call for mandatory vaccination is slightly less fierce. Earlier, mayor of Aarschot and former chair of Open Vld Gwendolyn Rutten carefully advocated it. “The figures in Brussels are very bad,” says Rutten. “We see that such a vaccine only works if everyone really participates. If that doesn’t happen, that virus will keep circulating, then mutations will come and I’m afraid we won’t get back the freedom we all crave so soon.”
That position does not conflict with the liberal ideology of her party. “I stand up for the freedom of all those people who have been vaccinated in the hope that they can regain their normal lives and their freedom, that they can grab their family, that they can let go of those mouth masks.” Rutten says she doesn’t like “freedom of a small group that endangers everything else for purely ideological reasons”.
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