Belgium was entitled to 7.5 million vaccines; the government ordered 5 million

The N-VA does not understand why Prime Minister De Croo and Minister Vandenbroucke have not taken steps to bring more vaccines to Belgium. “Despite a change of power, the new government is failing to do better than its predecessors. Glaring nonchalance!”

In the summer, the government announced that it had subscribed to the European purchase procedure for the vaccine being developed by BioNtech/Pfizer. The government was not involved in concluding the purchase contract but could sign in or out in the second line and thus order vaccines. Of the total of 200 million vaccines ordered, the government decided to take 5 million. However, the European Commission had an option for an additional 100 million doses. How many of those would be for this country was not communicated. A small calculation shows that it would be an extra 2.5 million vaccines for Belgium.

When it became known in November that clinical trials confirmed the effectiveness of the vaccine, many governments shifted up a gear. They ordered additional vaccines from BioNtech/Pfizer, built vaccination centres, announced strategies, etc. In this country, a vaccination task force was finally set up in late November.

The N-VA has already sounded the alarm several times

It was also announced that Germany would receive 30 million of the additional order of 100 million vaccines. Of course, this is not in proportion to the number of German inhabitants. The N-VA repeatedly questioned the Minister of Health and the Prime Minister about the proportionality of the distribution of the vaccines. When it turned out in December that only a symbolic delivery of 10,000 vaccines was coming to our country, the N-VA also sounded the alarm. After all, at that time, the Netherlands received more than 165,000.

Lack of foresight

It is clear that neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister of Health has taken sufficient steps to bring to our country the share of vaccines to which our population is entitled according to the European distribution. When the good clinical results of the BioNtech/Pfizer vaccine were announced, they should have reacted immediately and claimed the 2.5 million extra vaccines for our country. However, that did not happen. The slow delivery of the vaccines and the fact that we are once again among the last in line for the next 10 million Pfizer vaccines are the result of a lack of foresight on the part of the government. With the additional 2.5 million vaccines, it would have been possible to vaccinate 1.25 million people quickly, in addition to the residents and staff of the residential care centres, starting with the primary care providers and people working in hospitals who, under all circumstances, must be ready for a possible third wave.