[De Morgen](https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/van-rik-torfs-tot-ontslagen-onderzoeker-sam-brokken-omstreden-namen-treden-op-in-parlement-als-corona-expert~bd5ef70a/?utm_source=link&utm_medium=app&utm_campaign=shared%20content&utm_content=free)

[De Standaard](https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20220119_98505237)

Translated from article De Morgen:

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The House Committee on Health is going to invite 32 speakers to the hearings on the vaccination requirement. These include microbiologist Herman Goossens and motivational psychologist Maarten Vansteenkiste, but under pressure from Vlaams Belang several coronasceptics were also added to the list. Among them are veterinarian Geert Vanden Bossche and the controversial former lecturer Sam Brokken. Church judge Rik Torfs will also be allowed to express his views.

The question of whether or not the corona vaccine should be made compulsory for the adult population has been sounding for months now. The issue divides not only society, but also the government. The House of Representatives decided last week to hold a broad debate on the issue within the Health Committee. Starting Wednesday, the committee will organize hearings with experts from different fields in order to possibly proceed with a legislative initiative. It is hoped that the debates will be completed before the spring break.

The House Committee on Health already attempted to arrange the hearings on Tuesday, but that attempt failed after 2.5 hours of discussion. Committee Chairman Thierry Warmoes (PVDA) had compiled a list of eighteen speakers from the more than seventy names that the political groups had proposed in advance, but opposition parties N-VA and Vlaams Belang were not satisfied. From Vlaams Belang only one speaker was selected, it sounded, while N-VA emphasized that various disciplines were missing. These included general practitioners, paediatricians and liability law experts.

32 SPEAKERS

Chairman Warmoes made a new attempt yesterday. This led to a final list, which ultimately included 32 speakers. Among those who will be present are Domus Medica chairman and general practitioner Roel Van Giel, clinical biologist Emmanuel André, virologist Johan Neyts, biostatistician Geert Molenberghs, microbiologist Herman Goossens and motivational psychologist Maarten Vansteenkiste. Notable absentees are GEMS chairwoman Erika Vlieghe and virologist Marc Van Ranst.

The extended list now also includes professor of artificial intelligence Tijl De Bie (UGent and one of the driving forces behind the Winter Manifesto), professor of constitutional law Hendrik Vuye, church lawyer Rik Torfs and the controversial researcher Sam Brokken. The latter was dismissed last year because of a “difference in vision” as a lecturer at the Limburg University College PXL after he had questioned the efficacy of the corona vaccines in De Zevende Dag (The Seventh Day).

VETERINARIAN

Another controversial name added to the list at the request of Vlaams Belang is that of veterinarian Geert Vanden Bossche, who falsely claims that the mass vaccination campaign is just weakening our immune system instead of strengthening it. That claim, however, is completely off the mark. Still, Vanden Bossche argues that we should simply stop vaccinating.

According to De Standaard, health economist Lieven Annemans was also on Vlaams Belang’s list, but didn’t make it. Annemans became discredited just last week for [sharing false claims about the safety of vaccines in children and a tweet in which he stated that “the policy is co-driven by a handful of narcissistic sociopaths who form a coalition with a greedy elite while others look on out of cowardice or ignorance it is difficult to stand.”](https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/professor-lieven-annemans-opnieuw-onder-vuur-als-hij-dit-meent-zie-ik-niet-hoe-hij-voorzitter-kan-blijven-van-het-vlaams-relancecomite~bf608e60/)

The hearings will take place on Wednesday, January 26, Monday, January 31, Wednesday, February 2 and Friday, February 4. It is possible that the House Committee will decide afterwards to hear other names. In any case, separate hearings will be held with the social partners and with corona commissioner Pedro Facon.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

6 comments

  2. Unfortunate that morons get to put in other morons, and we have to pretend that their opinions, while rejected by 99% of the scientific community, are just as valid as the overwhelming scientific concession.

    Non idiots in that committee should just go outside when some antivaxxer dipshit is going to talk. That way the VB guys can jerk off privately to the sound of utter horseshit.

  3. I am really disappointed (but I guess not suprised) that some party actually invited a person that is saying not to get vaccinated. Absolutely insane. This has no scientific basis.

  5. Pretty unbelievable that Erika Vlieghe doesn’t even get invited as an expert – she’s obviously highly informed – while a bunch of wappies and neo-wappies get to have their say.

    What’s that Tijl De Bie doing there for example, what’s his relevant competence in this debate?

  6. The only mandatory vaccine in Belgium is the Polio vaccine, which has a 90-99% effectiveness and prevents transmission (except right after your vaccination). It works like most traditional vaccines, through a inactive or weakened version of the virus.

    Making the second vaccine to be mandated in Belgium:

    – novel ~~gene therapy~~ genetic-based therapy which wasn’t even functional as early as 2017 (as of now this is the only/most available vaccine in Belgium).

    – with an effectiveness that can drop to 10% after less than 6 months

    – which doesn’t stop transmission and (re)infection

    Is absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention that it’s ALREADY a fact that simply taking the required vaccine doses once is not enough, so what would be mandated is not one vaccination but a series of vaccinations. When booster effectiveness eventually wanes, will new boosters also be mandated? Will the status of “fully vaccinated” once again disappear? Will the CST once again expire? It just boggles the mind.

    Take my situation:

    1. Get covid in early 2020 : Asymptomatic.
    2. Get J&J vaccine (being assured it is 95% effective, stops transmission and would allow me to return to normal life): Feel terrible, fever and bad aching for several days.
    3. Get covid again in October 2021: Mild cough.

    Does it really feel fair that the government would now suddenly mandate me to keep taking vaccines over and over? Every 6 months? Every 4 months as in some countries? I can’t predict how future boosters would make me feel, but is it really just that (going on my reaction to the original vaccine) the government would ask me to make myself sicker every few months than I have been sick with the disease I’m supposedly preventing? Without even actually allowing me to not need to follow OTHER mandates such as mask wearing, social distancing and any other future rulings such as the closing of businesses or curfews.

    A vaccine mandate would be an absolutely terrible, unscientific, kafkaesque step.

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