13 June 2021: An urban alignment with a happy twist…

13 June 2021: It is still unclear if the supply of vaccines will be sufficient to shorten the wait from 12 to 8 weeks for people, including myself, who received their first jab of the AZ vaccine prior to 31 May. But maybe there is another route to bring the invitation forward for these people and to get them fully vaccinated sooner. The preliminary results of a recent German study show that people who receive a second shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine after receiving a first dose of AZ’s jab develop better protection against the coronavirus than after getting a second AstraZeneca dose. Some countries, including France, have switched to a vaccination where people receive two different vaccines, however, in Belgium, the High Health Council has not yet issued any recommendations on this. According to the most recent information commitments to shorten the interval to 8 weeks will only be made after the deliveries are guaranteed for the week of 21 June. Net-net, we’ll need to hang in there for a while before we know. The good news is that the latest figures on the corona pandemic show a further continuation of the positive trend set in recent weeks. There are currently 770 COVID-19 patients being cared for in Belgian hospitals; of those hospitalised 300 are on intensive care wards. During the week from 3 June to 9 June an average of 983 people tested positive for the coronavirus. This is 37% down on the figures from the previous week. The positivity rate dropped to 3.1 and the reproductive rate fell to 0.80. And, there is of course more good news… The Belgian Red Devils hammered Russia in their opening game of the European Championships. To celebrate all of this, I’m posting an urban alignment with a happy twist – Tweebruggenstraat, Ghent, Belgium.