After a bus trip to Blankenberge, 32 of the 49 vaccinated bus passengers from Limburg were infected with the corona virus. This is reported by TV Limburg and the news is confirmed to Belga by the Agency for Care and Health. These are Limburg seniors from all over the province.
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The bus passengers were all vaccinated, because that was a condition for getting on the bus. The trip to Blankenberge lasted from 3 to 10 September, after which one of the seniors went to the doctor on 14 September with symptoms and was tested. Another patient followed on 15 September at the same GP in Beringen, after which the doctor informed the primary care zone in West Limburg. Soon eight more people turned out to be positive, after which all bus passengers were contacted.
‘We were surprised that so many were infected. We don’t know exactly how it happened – during the stay or on the bus – but we suspect that the infections started at the sea,” says Elie Balligand, a general practitioner in Beringen and a member of the covid team of the primary care zone West-West. Limburg. ‘Most people are mildly to moderately ill. Most have complaints, but they are perfectly able to stay at home. One person has been hospitalized.’
Four samples with a high viral load have been transferred to the Jessa Hospital in Hasselt, where sequencing must determine which variant is involved. ‘There are many infections, more than hoped for with the vaccine. The vaccine does work, because most people are only mildly to moderately ill,’ says Balligand.
‘This certainly shows the importance of vaccination,’ says Ria Vandenreyt of Care and Health. ‘Without vaccination, many people would have had serious complaints. The seriousness of the complaints is now all in all not too bad. Otherwise you would expect more hospitalized people.’
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