Petition to complete hearings in the debate on mandatory vaccination in the House

Dear parliamentarians, ladies and gentlemen,

This petition ⁽¹⁾ is part of the debates taking place in the House of Representatives, specifically in the Health Committee, regarding the Covid-19 vaccine requirement.

In this sense, a list of nine additional experts is submitted to you to complete the hearings.

These nine experts have confirmed their agreement to be part of this debate (see attached). They are scientific, academic, medical, mental health and legal experts:

- Pr. Bernard Rentier, Virologist and biologist specialized in zoological sciences, former rector of the University of Liege,

- Pr. Denis Flandre, Engineer (DNA and antigenic test technologies, respiration measurement, air quality and ventilation, etc.), UCLouvain,

- Pr. Christine Dupont, Bio-engineer (intergenerational transmissions, vaccine formulation, etc.), UCLouvain,

- Caroline Vandermeeren, Bio-engineer (specialized in industrial (micro)-biology), Doctor in Biotechnology and Biochemistry, independent consultant in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological sector,

- Pr. Elisabeth Paul, Health policies and systems (socio-economic determinants of health, etc), ULB,

- Gary Fass, Vascular surgeon, patient companion,

- Jean Van Hemelrijk, Psychologist,

- Audrey Despontin, Lawyer, member of the private law center of the ULB,

- Audrey Lackner, Lawyer.

The purpose of this petition is to ensure that these nine experts can be heard in the above-mentioned debate.

This is important in order to deepen the debate, to make it as complete as possible, and to take into account the opinions of various academic and scientific experts, of the world of mental health, and of lawyers specialized in this field. This is an extremely complex and sensitive debate. Therefore, it is essential that it reflects as many opinions as possible so that parliamentarians can take a well-informed position on this subject. In addition, it seems that in the list of 32 experts chosen by the Health Commission, some profiles or balances are missing, such as gender parity (which has been integrated in this list), under-representation of the mental health and legal sectors, etc. It is therefore necessary to reinforce these aspects within the debate.

Therefore, dear parliamentarians, ladies and gentlemen, and this under the condition that this petition receives the required number of signatures, it is desirable that you hear the nine experts proposed above within the framework of this fundamental debate for the Belgian population.

1. https://dekamer.mijnopinie.belgium.be/initiatives/i‑697