"I am ready to consider compulsory vaccination" said for the first time the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Cro, in an interview given to the Flemish newspaper "De Zondag".
As the year draws to a close and 2021 is still marked by the pandemic, the Belgian Prime Minister announced that "Omicron mutation will not be the last wave" and "we must learn to live with the virus". To do this, the Belgian prime minister outlines various avenues: extra beds in the intensive care unit or even… compulsory vaccination - an issue that de Croe has not advocated in recent months. On several occasions he had said that he did not want vaccination to be mandatory, saying that he believed more in persuasion than in enforcement. However, in his interview with "De Zondag" he specifically states: "The goal is clear: everyone needs to be vaccinated. "If the compulsory vaccination route can help, I'm ready to think about it." while reminding that a debate will be needed in Parliament.
For Alexander de Cro, however, other measures must be taken into account in the long run. "Our hospitals must be in a better position to deal with the peak of cases", he stressed, pointing out that 2.000 intensive care beds are probably not enough. Secondly, he emphasized the need for greater efforts to ensure continued prevention;
Source: RES-EAP