The latest after-work conundrum for the young people of Brussels: go sip a beer at a newly reopened bar terrace, or queue up at a local vaccination center on the off-chance of getting an unused coronavirus jab.
On a damp Tuesday afternoon, about five dozen people stood in line at the Pacheco vaccination center in central Brussels, hoping to snag one of the leftover doses from the daily vaccination appointments currently open only to those aged 41 or over or those suffering from diseases. For most, it was a futile exercise as officials announced they had just a single leftover shot.
Others were luckier elsewhere. At the Forest center a week earlier, a software problem disrupted regular appointments, leaving officials to offer about 1,200 BioNTech/Pfizer jabs on a first-come-first-serve basis. As that news spread, around 100 young people queued for hours at the center on the following days, though only a handful managed to get a jab.
“We’re seeing a growing interest among young people to get vaccinated, which is generally a good thing,” said Inge Neven, Brussels’ vaccine policy spokesperson. However, she stressed that only in “very exceptional” cases were doses being given to people outside the priority groups. “We’re calling on people to still have a bit of patience. Soon everybody will get their turn,” she said.
But patience among some in their 20s and 30s is running thinner with the prospect of frictionless travel — no PCR tests or quarantining — for the fully vaccinated from June 21 under the EU’s digital green certificate.
By the time those age groups can expect to book a first vaccine appointment, probably in early or mid June, it would still be July or beyond before they get the two jabs that all bar the Johnson & Johnson vaccine require for effective protection. That might be too late for the summer plans of some, especially as concerts and other cultural events are considering allowing in only those with a vaccine passport or a pricey negative nose swab.
“I don’t know whether I will get my vaccine appointment soon,” said Benjamin, a 35-year-old consultant working in EU affairs and one of the unlucky hopefuls at the Pacheco center.
“I’m here because I would like to travel for my job,” he said. “So I’ll probably try again in the next few days. Two colleagues had luck in recent weeks and got a leftover dose. But word seems to have spread in town, there are many more people coming now.”
There have been similar scenes of young people trying to get vaccinated ahead of their age group in France and Germany, and authorities say it’s legal to take up doses left over at the end of the day and which might no longer be useable the following day.
Yet there are also reports from Germany about people lying about their age or falsely claiming they are taking care of an elderly person or pregnant woman to jump the vaccination queue.
Unused appointments
The EU aims to have 70 percent of its adult population vaccinated by the summer, and after a slow start the bloc’s 27 countries are now administering more daily doses per 100 people than the U.S. or the U.K.
Belgium, which not long ago was near the bottom of the EU’s vaccination rankings, is now in 6th position with about 32 percent of the population having received at least a first shot, just behind Germany’s 33 percent. Malta remains the frontrunner with 60 percent of the population having gotten at least a first vaccine dose.
However, the vaccine rollout in Brussels is not going entirely smoothly, and reports earlier this week that some vaccination centers still have thousands of free appointment slots have raised doubts about whether limiting jabs to certain priority groups still makes sense. Belgian data shows that the vaccination rate in Brussels is lagging at around 25 percent.
Reports about vaccine center staff handing out leftover doses to their friends have not helped the reputation of the system either.
Local authorities admit there is “a problem” with unused appointments, which they attribute mainly to the low popularity of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, which has suffered from reports about the risk of blood clots and a lower efficiency and resistance against virus mutations.
“People register for an appointment and when they see that they are supposed to get AstraZeneca, they cancel because they want BioNTech/Pfizer,” Neven said. However, offering the unused AstraZeneca doses to younger people is no quick fix as Belgian rules currently say it should only be administered to those aged 41 or older.
Matteo, 33, an Italian expat working for an international organization in Brussels, queued at several vaccination centers last week until he thought he had finally struck lucky: He was promised an appointment at the Anderlecht center, which had unused BioNTech/Pfizer doses.
“I went there with a friend, we were called inside and I was almost ready to pull up my sleeve to get the vaccine when the nurse looked at my ID card and said that I was too young to be vaccinated,” he said.
According to Neven, the Brussels region will soon open vaccination appointments to those aged 36 years and above, and then continue to trim the age limit in intervals of five years.
That probably won’t stop people from trying their luck in the queue: “It’s not so much about traveling without restrictions for me, but to feel less stressed,” said Sophia, a 22 year-old Dutch student of art sciences and archeology, who was waiting in line at the Pacheco center on Tuesday.
“I live with eight other people. I’m so stressed. I don’t want to get the coronavirus, or even have it without realizing it and put other people at risk,” she said. “Having the vaccine would just make me feel much more relaxed.”
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