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(I am a Belgium resident) I think the only reason they're considering this in Belgium right now is because they are unprepared in the extreme. They have frankl

(I am a Belgium resident) I think the only reason they're considering this in Belgium right now is because they are unprepared in the extreme. They have frankly pissed away their time instead of actually preparing for the vaccine, the past nine months. The current vaccination rollout plan leaves healthcare workers unvaccinated until march. HEALTHCARE WORKERS. https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/belgium-all-news/147133/covid-19-vaccinations-in-nursing-homes-from-monday-health-workers-in-march/ https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/belgium-all-news/147133/c... There's been some pretty severe backlash to that, and rightfully so (I don't know of any other country that isn't vaccinating its health workers in the very first phase alongside senior citizens). I ran some numbers the other day and if you're distributing the vaccines exclusively via the 40-ish Belgian hospitals that can store the Pfizer one (and only 6 in Brussels), then there is no way to achieve herd immunity before end of 2020. The only real solution to that is to allow for more widespread distribution via pharmacies. (Yes, medium-term storage is an issue, but AIUI the Pfizer vaccines can still move around after thawing for some time so short term redistribution is possible if you've prepared for it). So they're trying whatever they can to compress the timeline. It's not necessarily a bad decision, but it's a workaround to a worse one.

stjohnswarts 6y ago
This is happening in the US as well, and now they're acting shell shocked at receiving 2-3 million doses because that is actually indeed a lot of doses which means you need lots of trained people on how to handle them and inject them. This is gonna take a long time. Hopefully Biden will scramble more people and resources. Depending on corporations as the sole distributors is a bad, bad idea.
f6v 6y ago
Yes, and all the parties from the beginning of summer till days before new lockdown. I don’t know how it goes in other countries, unfortunately common sense is anything but common. Also I’ve read that “Belgium accounts for 25% of Europe’s biotech”. I wonder why there’s no domestic vaccine yet given such R&D capacity.

stjohnswarts 6y ago

This is happening in the US as well, and now they're acting shell shocked at receiving 2-3 million doses because that is actually indeed a lot of doses which means you need lots of trained people on how to handle them and inject them. This is gonna take a long time. Hopefully Biden will scramble more people and resources. Depending on corporations as the sole distributors is a bad, bad idea.

f6v 6y ago

Yes, and all the parties from the beginning of summer till days before new lockdown. I don’t know how it goes in other countries, unfortunately common sense is anything but common. Also I’ve read that “Belgium accounts for 25% of Europe’s biotech”. I wonder why there’s no domestic vaccine yet given such R&D capacity.