A detailed plan for the rollout of coronavirus vaccinations in Belgium was published yesterday (3 December). The rollout will start in early January, will be free and voluntary, deploy five different vaccines with 22 million doses in total available. The plan identifies six groups that will be vaccinated over three phases, in order of priority.

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Alexander de Croo had indicated that distribution will start from 5 January.

During the first phase, a limited amount of vaccines will be available to residents and staff of care homes and health care professionals. Some 600,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine will be used to (hopefully) immunise to 300,000 people through two doses. The Pfizer vaccine requires very cold storage and handling infrastructure.

Under the second phase, when more vaccines with more conventional storage requirements are available, people over 65; at-risk patients between 45 and 65; and people with essential social and/or economic functions will get a vaccine.

The final phase of the plan will target other at-risk patients and the rest of the adult population when a sufficient supply of vaccines is available. According to Dirk Ramaeckers, the head of the Belgian vaccination task force, it is likely that this stage will not be reached before summer 2021.

The current five candidate vaccines against COVID-19 are from AstraZeneca/Oxford; Johnson & Johnson; Pfizer/BioNTech; CureVac; and Moderna. Official EU-wide approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine is expected before the end of the year.

How does an mRNA vaccine work?

This handy infographic from the Royal Society of Chemistry and Compound Chemistry explains how an mRNA vaccine works.

You can download and read the full report on the Belgian Vaccination Strategy here (in French) – ‘Avis pour l’opérationnalisation de la Stratégie de vaccination COVID-19 pour la Belgique’.