Just under 2,000 people in Flanders who refused the first invitation for a coronavirus vaccine or left it unanswered registered for a second chance since last Wednesday, when this option became available on the Qvax platform.
By Thursday, 1,902 people living in Flanders had reactivated their invitation, according to Joris Moonens, spokesperson for the region's Agency for Care and Health.
“They still have the chance to change their minds and register,” he said, explaining that people can withdraw their refusal themselves via the Qvax appointment platform. They were offered a new (last) chance by mail and e-mail, or can put themselves on the reserve list to get their shot even faster.
In total, around 300,000 people who had the chance to be vaccinated have not yet received a first dose.
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Around 6% of all vaccination appointments were not attended, whilst 1.6% of adults actively refused to get vaccinated, however this number is the lowest in Flanders, where 87% of adults have received a first shot, in comparison with 58% and 75% in Brussels and Wallonia, respectively.
On Thursday, the Flemish government sent out the very last vaccination invitations to over -16s in the region - meaning everyone who accepts the invitation will be vaccinated in the next two weeks - which is why the agency decided to give this group a second chance.
Evevy vaccination centre also has a 'population manager', whose job it is to get as many non-vaccinated people as possible to the vaccination centre or to deliver a vaccine to the person in the weeks and months to come.
Meanwhile, Flanders passed the threshold of fully vaccinating 50% of its adult population on Friday, according to the most recent vaccination figures from Sciensano, whilst in Belgium, 49.8% of the over-18s are fully protected.
Flanders also became the first region in Europe to give a first coronavirus vaccine dose to 70% of its overall population. However, it will just miss its goal of giving all adults at least one shot by 11 July due to vaccine delivery issues and the age limit for the Johnson & Johnson jab which was briefly imposed at the end of May.
