Next phase of the deployment of the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in Luxembourg (Phase 2)

Today the Government Council decided on the next phase of the vaccination campaign on the basis of the opinion of the National Ethics Commission (Commission nationale d'éthique, C.N.E.) of 21 January. intervenu en date du 21 janvier. The decision is in line with the dual objective underlying the vaccination strategy, namely the protection of the most vulnerable people according to their age or state of health and the protection of our health system.

The Government has therefore decided that, in the second phase, people aged 75 and over, both healthy and vulnerable, will be vaccinated, starting with the oldest. At the same time, highly vulnerable residents, with no age limit, will also be eligible to get vaccinated.

The High Council for Infectious Diseases (Conseil supérieur des maladies infectieuses, CSMI) will be responsible for deciding who falls under the definition of "highly vulnerable". A consultation will take place this week with the medical corps, represented by the Association of Physicians and Dentists (Association des Médecins et Médecins Dentistes, AMMD) and the Circle of General Practitioners (Cercle des Médecins Généralistes, CMG), in order to agree on the criteria applicable when issuing medical certificates attesting to this state of vulnerability. This work will be finalised by the end of the week.

The Ministry of Health is asking citizens not to go to their physician to have their vulnerability attested until the work of the CSMI and the medical corps has been completed.

The other categories of people to be vaccinated at a later stage will be determined in a next step, also taking into account the vaccine doses available at that time.

It should be remembered that in its meeting of 4 December 2020, the Government Council, on the basis of the opinion of the National Ethics Commission of 29 November 2020, decided to distribute the vaccines according to the quantities that will be allocated during the first phase of the deployment of vaccination against COVID-19, in a sanitary cordon approach, to practising health professionals, i.e. the medical professions and regulated professions, to the staff of health establishments (hospitals, retirement homes, care and support networks), and to the residents of retirement homes. People with disabilities living in approved accommodation facilities and the staff of these facilities are also included in this first category.

The second phase of the roll-out of the vaccination campaign cannot begin until the first phase has been completed, in principle towards the end of March, subject to the delivery and availability of sufficient doses of vaccine.

Press release by the Ministry of State / Ministry of Health