Prof Dr Claude Muller, a member of the government’s coronavirus expert council, spoke to our colleagues on RTL Radio yesterday and explained that the council is expected to issue a new opinion on a potential vaccine mandate in the coming weeks.
At the moment, the Coronavirus situation in Luxembourg is relatively calm, but new variants are causing infection spikes abroad. In Portugal, for instance, the Omicron sub variant BA.5 has recently provoked a new wave of infections, as well as a high number of deaths. The sub variant is also currently responsible for about 25% of infections recorded in Luxembourg.
Nevertheless, Minister of Health Paulette Lenert ensured that there is little reason for concern at the moment: “The variants that are currently spreading do not cause as severe symptoms as the previous ones did. Of course a risk remains, but with our vaccination rate, it is unlikely that the situation in our hospitals will drastically change from one day to the next.”
The Health Minister expressed more concerns about new variants arising in autumn: “We need to be ready to increase testing, administer jabs with new vaccines if they are available, and provide booster shots if it is recommended. All these operations are currently running in the background.”
Minister Lenert admitted that the government has been waiting impatiently for weeks to get the new opinion on vaccine mandates from the expert council: “I often hear that the publication is imminent, but the government will have to take a decision on Wednesday, as the current Covid laws are about to expire.”
Back in January, the expert council issued an opinion recommending a vaccine mandate for people in the health and care sector, as well as for people above the age of 50. At the moment, it is unclear whether the council will hold on to their earlier proposition.
