4 February 2021: The patients at risk list for fast-track vaccination is ready

4 February 2021: In the week to 31 January on average 2,363 people tested positive each day in Belgium. The figure is up 8% on the week whilst the number of hospitalizations and fatalities continues to fall. Yesterday the Belgian government has agreed which ailments will qualify you for priority in getting vaccinated. Underlying health issues that provide a risk include all patients aged 45 to 64 with chronic respiratory, heart and vascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, chronic afflictions of the nervous system, dementia, tumorous cancers, kidney disease, chronic liver disease and high blood pressure. Patients in the 18 to 64 age category qualify if they have haematological cancers, Down syndrome, HIV or afflictions of the immune system. Also transplant patients and people with rare diseases will get priority. In total these are more than 1 million Belgians. The vaccination of risk patients will start next month. There was more good news yesterday. Researchers from the Oxford University reported the results of a study providing evidence that the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine not only protects people from serious illness and death but also substantially slows the transmission of the virus. Assuming that the manuscript will get peer-reviewed published it underscores the importance of mass vaccinations as a path out of the pandemic. Personally, I find it a pity that many EU countries are taking a very conservative approach for the roll out of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Anyway, I’m not a virologist and, therefore, should not get involved in the debate. Instead, I’ll continue to focus on documenting daily life or what draws my attention during my daily corona walks in my hometown. It is sometimes surreal, ugly, paradoxical and complex. It’s a little bit of everything and a little bit of nothing but it’s unique in its own right – Ghent, Belgium.