Since Belgium started administering third doses of a coronavirus vaccine to people from certain vulnerable groups in September, nearly 150,000 such booster shots were given across the country.
It was initially announced that only residents of care centres and people with a weakened immune system would receive a booster vaccine, but in the meantime, Belgium decided that all over-65s will also be able to get one.
This extra dose should help to keep the protection against the coronavirus sufficiently high. The extra shots will be administered with the vaccine developed by Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech.
In practice, this means that everyone – including those who received AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines – will receive a booster shot from Pfizer or Moderna.
Due to a sometimes weaker immune response after a few months, elderly people are more at risk of declining protection against severe Covid-19 disease, the ministers explained.
In the Brussels-Capital Region, residents aged 65 and over have been able to go to a vaccination point since yesterday (Monday 4 October) to receive their booster.
