Illustration image: Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga
Above all, the age group of people over 65 should use the offer in order to protect themselves as well as possible against the complications that flu often brings with it, it said at a press conference in Brussels. The European Center for Prevention and Disease Control recommends a vaccination rate of 75 percent in this age group. In Belgium, however, this is only around 60 percent.
Marc Van Ranst, professor at KU Leuven for virology and epidemiology, warned of a so-called “twindemic”, that is a double epidemic of coronaviruses and flu viruses. Even if the start of the flu epidemic in Belgium and the prevailing virus strain are still uncertain, there is a real danger that there will be a corona and flu epidemic at the same time in the winter months, says Van Ranst.
belga/ed