The Superior Health Council (SHC) currently sees no scientific support for a booster vaccine among the general population. The Council was in favor of a booster vaccine for healthcare personnel. “Healthcare professionals will be confronted this fall/winter with the management of SARS-COV-2 patients, as well as other infectious respiratory diseases (such as the seasonal flu or RSV),” the advisory reads. “By lowering the risk of infection with sars-COV-2, a booster dose would help keep the healthcare system afloat.”
The various health ministers in our country have therefore followed the advice of the SHC. In addition to residents of residential care centers, people over 65 and people with reduced immunity, who are currently already being invited for a booster shot, healthcare staff will now also receive an invitation for an additional corona vaccine.
It is estimated that there are more than 530,000 people across the country. This concerns hospital staff, primary care, employees of residential care centers and other residential care institutions and also home care. According to the Taskforce, the vaccination campaign can probably start as early as November.
General population
The advice of the Superior Health Council about a third injection for everyone is a line through the bill of the Flemish government. Earlier this week, the message was that the Flemish government would like to offer everyone a third shot. However, the Council underlined in its advice that there is currently no scientific evidence to give everyone such a third shot.
The Superior Health Council is also examining whether persons under the age of 65 who received AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson should receive an additional shot. In the United States, everyone who received the J&J vaccine is already being invited for a booster shot. According to Flemish Minister of Welfare Wouter Beke, a decision on this is expected “after the autumn holidays”.
Dirk Ramaekers, head of the Vaccination Taskforce, emphasizes that the advice of the Supreme Health Council does not mean that the booster shot is a bad idea for the general population. “During the vaccination campaign, we have always worked with many uncertainties (…) We must continue to communicate clearly about this: science can provide answers, but it does not have a crystal ball,” says Ramaekers.
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“In policy terms, we take into account that it will still be the case in the first semester of 2022,” says the head of the Vaccination Taskforce. According to Ramaekers, if the general booster shot were to come, it could go quickly. “In the first phase, the supply of the vaccines was the most important factor,” he says. “The vaccination centers are also running well, the booster dose can be well planned. We are already seeing that among the over-65s now.”
Most countries that offer booster shots currently only give the third shot to the elderly and people with underlying conditions. In Israel, where everyone under the age of 12 is invited for an additional injection, a significant decrease in the number of additional infections was already visible shortly after the start of the third vaccination campaign.
‘New insights’
Flemish minister Beke is counting on the third shot for everyone eventually coming. “We have agreed that preparations will be made to also do the third jab in general,” it sounds. “My personal belief remains that we will be poking even further over the course of 2022, and I feel there is advancing insight.” According to the minister, this decision will certainly not be the last, after the decisions about risk patients and people over 65. “I am convinced that this will not be the last step,” he said firmly.
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