The first 80,000 doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine for Belgium will be delivered on 7 February, Xavier De Cuyper, head of the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products, told the weekly online press conference of the Vaccination Task Force on Saturday.
A second delivery of 200,000 doses is planned ten days later, on February 17.
AstraZeneca, the latest player to date whose vaccine has been approved in Europe, has, like its competitors Pfizer and Moderna, had to announce delays in delivery.
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Despite these setbacks, the task force continues to stick to the schedule that calls for at least one first injection for the entire population by September. "The delays are not having a fundamental impact on the campaign at the moment," said the co-leader of the task force, Sabine Stordeur.
"This is due to the fact that these first deliveries are relatively limited in number of doses. However, it is essential that the next, more important ones are not delayed", says task force director Dirk Ramaekers.
Given the limited number of doses, the new vaccinations are "capped" so as not to jeopardize the second injections, Stordeur added.
As for who will be the first to benefit from AstraZeneca's vaccine, the Superior Council of Health is still waiting for an evaluation report before making its recommendation.
The recommendation is expected in the next few days, so that the first doses can be administered early the following week.
The Brussels Times
