Belgium joins a new European contract with Pfizer to get additional vaccines in 2022 and 2023: 23 million doses on the way in two years | The interior

It was recently announced that the European Commission has signed a contract with Pfizer / BioNTech to deliver 1.8 billion additional coronavirus vaccines next year and in 2023. Belgium decided on Monday to participate in the European Procurement Program. “The contract will ensure that we get adequate vaccines in the coming years,” Beck said. Concretely, this relates to 23 million doses of Pfizer, which, among other things, should make follow-up vaccination possible for new variants, for example. “We’ll also have to take more steps after this round,” Beck says, regarding the booster injection, for example.

Beke is not excluded from pursuing contracts with other suppliers. Europe has already decided not to renew the contract with AstraZeneca.

Beck also hoped that in a meeting with his colleagues this morning that children aged 16-17 could be decided soon after adults. But the decision had not yet been made officially as he was still awaiting the advice of the Supreme Health Council. There is now, and Beke assumes that an official decision will be made next week at the next meeting. In Flanders, this concerns a group of about 140,000 young people.

By the way, it cannot be excluded that children between 12 and 15 years old will soon be vaccinated. In the United States, for example, vaccination for this age group has continued since last week, and 600,000 young people have already been vaccinated. “I don’t rule out that at some point this will also have to be incorporated into our vaccination strategy.”