7 February 2021: Belgium updates vaccination strategy due to AstraZeneca

7 February 2021: Yesterday’s numbers show slight increases in the 7-day rolling averages for hospitalisations and people testing positive for the virus. Meanwhile the number of deaths among people with COVID-19 continues to fall. In the week to 3 February on average 2,339 people tested positive each day in Belgium. The figure is up 3% on the week. Also, yesterday, the vaccination taskforce announced that the first shipment of 443,000 AstraZeneca has been delivered. As the British-Swedish vaccine will not be administered to people over 55 years old for the time being, Belgium had to slightly adapt its vaccination strategy. The vaccine will be given to people between 18 and 55 years old of following groups: healthcare workers, residents and staff of care institutions (i.e., rehabilitation centers, psychiatric institutions, etc.), high risk groups with underlying conditions and police officers. People over 55 will receive a Covid-19 vaccine by Pfizer/BioNtech or Moderna. The government claims that it will accelerate the vaccination of the more vulnerable people but I’m still unclear what it exactly means for the timing of the roll-out of the vaccination campaign in the various age groups. I guess I should no longer worry about it and continue to enjoy documenting how life unfolds during these unprecedented times. I don’t know why this street corner in disrepair caught my attention. I decided to label it as an abstract urban composition – Rembert Dodoensdreef, Ghent, Belgium