The Flemish government again called on cities and municipalities to start again in the vaccination campaign and to gear up. “We are working on that right away. We were with the planned plans and the higher government plans to have the vaccines available”, responds Mechels mayor Alexander Vandersmissen (Vld-Groen-m+).

Originally, the Mechelen-Katelijne vaccination center was active in the Nekkerhal, but since a good month it has been housed in the former emergency department of the old hospital on the Zwartzustersvest. Thousands of people over 65 have already received their third shot against Covid-19. “We want to organize a booster shot like this for all residents as soon as possible. We want to start working on that in December,” says Vandersmissen.

Up to ten vaccination lines

There are currently four vaccination lines in the provisional hospital campus, half of the number of vaccination lines in the Nekkerhal. In order to scale up again, the primary care zone had to look for a new location. She found it on Guido Gezellelaan, where many shops have been vacant since the opening of the Malinas shopping park.

The furnishing of the store will start in the first half of December. van Baby-Dump “The owners and tenants make the retail property available. The space of two square meters allows us to scale up flanks to ten vaccination lines. At least eight are already in the start-up phase,” explains Alexander Vandersmissen.

An additional advantage, especially for visitors from outside the city, is that there is sufficient parking space at the building. Public buses also stop nearby.