In the week of June 28, almost one in five Flemish people did not comply with their appointment for a first corona jab. This is apparent from a state of affairs from the Agency for Care and Health on Friday. The number of so-called no-shows was barely 2.5 percent in mid-May, but has increased rapidly since the beginning of June. “That is not entirely unexpected, because there are many young people who go on holiday,” says Joris Moonens, spokesperson for the Agency.
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While the percentage of absentees at the first appointment at the end of February was still 13.4 percent, that figure systematically decreased to just 2.5 percent in the week of May 10. After that, that figure continued to fluctuate around 5 to 6 percent, until a steep rise started in June. In the last week of June, 17.7 percent of all invitations did not show up for their appointment. That corresponds to about 60,000 people.
Yet the Agency for Care and Health is not really concerned. “The number of no-shows is indeed on the rise, although that is not entirely unexpected. Some of the people also have their invitation in their pocket and can therefore book a new appointment themselves.” Persons whose invitation has expired must join at the very end of the row, after all persons older than 12 years have received a first invitation. Moonens estimates that they will get a second chance “somewhere in the course of August”.
Especially young refusers
The number of people who do not show up for the second shot also rises, albeit a lot less sharply, to 2.5 percent at the end of June. Of the 4.86 million Flemish people who have already received an invitation, 87,853 or 1.8 percent explicitly refused the vaccine. The breakdown by age shows that the refusals are mainly situated in the group of 18 to 44 year-olds (2.16 percent).
In the meantime, 75,000 adults have already received a second invitation for a corona jab. It concerns people who have ignored their first invitation or people who have withdrawn their previous refusal. In addition, about 205,000 12 to 15-year-olds are still waiting for an invitation.
Of the young people under the age of 18, in the group 16 to 17 year olds, 59,911 people have already received at least a first dose, which is approximately 42.79 percent. Among the 12 to 15-year-olds, 17,410 people already received a first injection.
In the coming weeks, the proportion of fully vaccinated people in particular will increase further. For example, only 280 first shots are planned next week, compared to 472,267 second shots. The following week, the total number of injections increases again to 579,269, of which 91,708 are scheduled as the first dose and 487,561 as the second dose.
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