Belgian GPs Updated About Corona Vaccines

Belgian GPs and specialists have been updated about corona vaccines. Of 1,000 doctors surveyed, 91 percent say they should get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible, and 97 percent recommend patients do so.

At the end of September, 37 percent said they would not be vaccinated against the lung virus, and only 68 percent would recommend an injection to patients.

The initial reluctance among doctors was attributed to a lack of information about corona vaccines’ usefulness and safety. The first survey results were published in the Medical Journal before pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna announced interim positive results with their vaccines.

The new research, by the Medical World academic forum, took place between December 14 and January 7.

47 percent of doctors and specialists surveyed still say they do not know how the different Covid-19 vaccines work. According to Medical World, this is “alarming” because Belgian doctors have to explain the vaccines’ application and effect and administer them to their patients. “An urgent further training is needed.”

From Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, two vaccines have now been approved for the European market, and the Belgian vaccination campaign has started.

The doctors have been criticizing this campaign for some time. In Belgium, the residents of nursing homes are first given an injection. Still, the doctors argue for priority for care personnel in hospitals and residential care centres and for general practitioners.