10 February 2021: “The UK vaccinates 1,000 people per minute and we “are on schedule”

10 February 2021: In the week to 6 February on average 2,203 people tested positive each day in Belgium. The figure is down 6% on the week. In the week to 8 February an average of 121 people with COVID-19 were admitted to Belgian hospitals each day. This is a rise of 2% on the week. On 7 February (the latest date for which figures are available) 328,623 people had received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine. This is 3.56% of the total adult population. Knowing that we are a month and a half into the vaccination campaign this is a very disappointing number. The CEO of the Brussels University Hospital retweeted an article that appeared in the online version of the The Times writing “The UK vaccinates 1,000 people per minute and we “are on schedule”. A lack of agility and transparency with regard to the vaccination campaign is causing more and more frustration across the county and make people wonder if it’s just the availability of vaccines that is causing this delay or if it has more to do with a lack of decisiveness of the government and our country’s bureaucracy. Whilst we’re waiting for our first jab virologists are wondering if this week’s cold snap will have an impact on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus just like it encourages the spread of the flu virus. Since there is little hard evidence for this, I continue to wander around the city documenting what captures my attention – Paul de Smet de Naeyerplein, Ghent, Belgium.