History of Codeco n°7

Press conference on March 5, 2021

597 days since the press conference of April 15, 2020, where we introduced in the room  » a politically biased question « , which  » is not the habit of journalists « , says Sophie Wilmès. The habit of journalists is to ask the questions that politicians expect and to comment on their decisions, rather than to seek the truth. The mass media do not play the role of a fourth estate, but rather manufacture consent. Not being adept at such collusion, the political power will close the doors of press conferences for more than eight months. We were not counting on our determination…

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Kairos will publish the 17 press conferences we attended. More than 20 unanswered questions. In front of them, no doubts, no questioning, no desire to understand, but a fixed, rigid end that justifies all their means. 

Imagine for a moment if all these issues had been debated democratically. Do you think we would be there today?

Transcription

-Alexandre Penasse: A little humor, I sometimes feel like I’m on the board of directors of Astrazeneca or Pfizer. I understand that you fear for the population, but vaccination is not mandatory, that is my question, and yet I see in your document the press release that you just gave to journalists that your April plan, outdoor plan and plan of massive investments in rapid tests, is conditional on the progress of the vaccination campaign. So my question is: if some people, it’s their choice, refuse to be vaccinated, are these plans and therefore this resumption of a normal life going to be conditioned to the vaccination, so if people don’t vaccinate what do we do, it’s a right, it’s a choice?

-Alexander De Croo : It is a right, but fortunately we see that many people are vaccinating themselves, it is a good thing. And as Mr. Jeholet said earlier, vaccination is a personal choice, but it is also a collective responsibility. If at some point we want all of us, and certainly our younger population, to be able to have the freedom they hope to have again, there is a direct link to vaccination. I will give you an example: in the centers, in the rest homes, we have seen that hospitalizations have dropped by almost 80%, thanks to the fact that people are vaccinated. Vaccination works, and fortunately a very large proportion of Belgians who receive an invitation accept it and are vaccinated.

-AP: Excuse me, but what about the negative effects of vaccination in Israel for example?

-ADC: No, one question. Sir you asked a question, I think I answered it. [le journaliste a qui De Croo donnait la parole dit de laisser Alexandre Penasse poser sa question]

-AP: I wanted to know …

-ADC: No no sir, wait, I’m the one who organizes things here at some point. So you want to ask a question, you ask a question.

-AP: Some people ask two questions, it’s always the same thing, Mr. De Croo, but the audience will notice, it doesn’t matter.

-ADC: Sir, I have answered your question, at the end I will come back to you. Here you go.

[Question d’autres journalistes…]

-AP: You were talking at the last press conference about the fact that your policy measures were based on obituaries and announcements since there were more deaths. The bulletin of March 3, 2021 from Sciensano indicates that the deaths are only decreasing so they indicate minus 29%, so I was wondering where you were going to look for your figures if we don’t have the same ones, and in a general way would you be ready after one year of Covid situation to put on the government website what scientific study you are basing on because I reiterate: we have more [nous] journalists, and we hear other points of view that do not pass…

-EDA: So, first of all, the fact that deaths are decreasing shows that the measures are working. And thankfully the deaths are decreasing because there were times when there were hundreds a day. It was people, friends, brothers, sisters that people had to leave. The scientific basis, the Sciensano reports are public, are available on the different websites, and you can use them, scrutinize and criticize if you want.

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