Flanders will offer TB screening and vaccinations to refugees

Flanders will offer Ukrainian refugees screening for tubercolosis, ​ a COVID-19, Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MBR) and Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis vaccination said Flemish Minister of Public Health Wouter Beke.

The influx of war refugees from Ukraine poses all kind of challanges. Also ​ in the area of health. Normally, refugees are medically screened on arrival within the federal Fedasil network. But because of their protected status, Ukrainian refugees do not pass through Fedasil, but instead enter society directly.

This raises some health concerns. Ukraine has a higher incidence of tuberculosis, is a country where polio still circulates, and it also has lower vaccination coverage for almost all infectious diseases. For example, less than 35 percent of Ukrainians are double vaccinated against COVID-19. "That poses challenges for us. Not only for the people who come here, but also for our own people, for example the people who, with the best of intentions, receive refugees," Beke said Wednesday in the Flemish Parliament.

According to Minister Beke, the intention is to make an offer to the refugees together with the local authorities and the circles of general practitioners. It is about a preventive medical examination where people can be scanned for tuberculosis and where they can be vaccinated, also against COVID-19. This is a voluntary offer, not an obligation. Except for the mandatory polio vaccination. "A mandatory vaccination is a mandatory vaccination. That will also apply to people coming from Ukraine," said Beke.

Flanders will also provide the necessary funding for the GP circles. "There will be a lump sum per refugee and a contact moment for this first phase of influx," said Beke.