It remains a tricky point in the vaccination campaign: the reserve lists. When elderly people who have received an invitation do not show up at a vaccination center, many centers call people who have said that they will be available quickly. In some centers it concerns 10 to exceptionally even 40 percent of these so-called ‘no-shows’.
‘Over-65s should be absolute priority’
But each center currently arranges those reserve lists in its own way, for example with lists created in Excel. An instruction has been sent from Flanders to do everything in its power to first address the over-65s on the reserve list, and only when that really fails to call kindergarten teachers, police officers and people from childcare. Officially it is not yet teachers from primary and secondary education, but in many centers they are already invited through the local reserve lists.
And that is not the intention, said Minister of Health Wouter Beke (CD&V) in parliament on Tuesday. He launched an urgent appeal to the centers to “establish reserve lists of the over-65s as soon as possible, now more than ever”, as it concerns the most vulnerable group that has not yet been vaccinated. In Flanders, for example, only 5.7 percent of the 65 to 74 year olds have been vaccinated, while 10 percent of the 18 to 34 year olds – who run much less risk of ending up in hospital – have already been vaccinated.
“We are faced with rising infection rates, rising hospital admissions, and even rising mortality rates. Vaccinating the over-65s should be the first absolute priority now, ”Beke said on Tuesday. He too realizes that every vulnerable elderly vaccination a day earlier can be a life saved.
‘Earliest mid-April’
To streamline all that and facilitate the call to the elderly, a central reserve list system was announced two weeks ago. Every citizen within the priority groups – now the over-65s – could register to be vaccinated more quickly if there were surpluses. A center could easily have around 100 people from the list contacted via the platform, by telephone or via text message. Originally, everything was supposed to be implemented “within two weeks”.
But in Flanders, the coordinators of the centers were told yesterday during a consultation with the Agency for Care and Health that the system will not be in place before mid-April in practice. “And at that point, the largest group that needs it (the over-65s, ed.) are already behind us ”, was the message.
City workers
Minister Beke’s call came after, among others, Vilvoorde announced that it would start vaccinating teachers next week, just like a number of other centers. In Aalst almost the entire police force has already been vaccinated, and in Lokeren even some city workers “who were on the spot”.
“I know that things are different in some centers and that the invitations are handled in a looser way,” Beke said on Tuesday. “And we don’t have the resources to check every invitation in each of the 95 centers. But I appeal to everyone’s responsibility. We really have to maintain the greater importance of the strategy that has been agreed. ”
‘System is under development’
But for the time being, it will not be possible to implement this strategy via a unified platform. According to Frank Robben, the CEO of the eHealth platform and Smals, the most important government IT provider, the system may be ready earlier, but he does not want to put a fixed date on it. “It is in full development,” he says. Starting next week, the first tests must take place in a few vaccination centers, and the system will eventually also be useful for the broad population under 65 years of age.
The intention is that citizens can indicate via the online platform when they will be available in the coming weeks to come quickly to the vaccination center. In case of surplus, you will be called or you will receive a text message that informs you that a place is available. According to Robben, this is a complex system that must be extensively tested before it can be rolled out widely. For example, it must be immediately made clear to people that if they come for their vaccine on that day via the reserve list, they should also be able to free themselves for the second injection 4, 5 or 12 weeks later, depending on the vaccine. Anyone who wants to book a holiday – when the weather is allowed – is therefore quite careful when planning his vaccination dates.
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