Vaccinations in the Netherlands against coronavirus

Yesterday, Wednesday 6 January was the official beginning of the vaccination against coronavirus in the Netherlands. Since then, they started with the vaccination of 30 thousands workers of nursery houses.
How will this continue further? When will ‘we’ get the vaccination?

Here below you can find some information about the vaccination strategy, as found on the official websites of the government and RIVM.

“The beginning of the end” said Minister De Jonge yesterday during the vaccination of the first person working in a nursery house (of course the press, among which AD.nl and Volkskrant, was there).
In the Netherlands we are thus starting somehow later than the rest of Europe – and polemics fire locally, but the plan of the government is very ambitious and the plan is to start vaccinating the large population (outside the population at risk) in May.
Here below you can find a scheme (provided by the government, in Dutch) of the vaccination strategy with starting times, the type of vaccine, the location and who is going to inject the vaccine for all risk (and non-risk) groups.
The information is also re-elaborated in English below

Scheme of the vaccination strategy provided by the government on January 4th

Vaccination strategy in the Netherlands – timing of the vaccination

January

  • personnel of nursery houses and of other small organizations in the healthcare sector, visiting nurses and care givers
  • personnel in the acute care (intensive care, ambulances, emergency rooms)
  • residents of nursery houses or of other small organizations in the healthcare sector (expected also in February)

February

  • Intramural healthcare providers (e.g. workers in hospitals), expected also in March
  • In-patients (e.g. patients in hospitals), expected also in March
  • People aged 18-60 with a medical indication

March

  • People older than 60 years old

April

  • All other healthcare providers not yet mentioned above

May

  • People aged 18-60 without medical indication
Scheme provided by the government on January 4th

Important to know

  • The appointment is arranged via telephone
  • The injections are made at different locations, according to the risk group and age
  • There will be two injections (28 days apart), at least for the vaccine currently in use
  • After injection GGD requires to have a 15 minutes of rest – to monitor possible side effects

Influencing variables

Of course this plan is theoretical, in the sense that it is based on some assumptions. Crucial factors for this plan to be executed are

  • Availability: pharmaceutical companies need to provide a large number of vaccines at the moment (and some of them are being approved these days). The larger the availability, the larger the population vaccinated.
    Two of the three vaccines (BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna) have been approved.
  • Logistic: vaccines need to be stored and transported at certain temperatures (-70 degrees Celsius) and following precise methods
  • Appropriateness of vaccines: some are not suitable for certain categories of people (like elderly or people with comorbidities)

In practice, all this vaccination is a complex machinery in which all parts need to work at their best in order for the system to work as expected. Let’s hope this will happen and let’s do our best in what we can (like getting vaccinated when we get the call!).

Useful websites

  • Roadmap of the vaccination strategy (link)
  • Page about vaccinations in the Netherlands – with a specific section about COVID-19 (link)
  • Coronavirus dashboard. This is not strictly related to vaccinations, but it gives a complete overview of what is going on in relation to coronavirus, and it is in English (link)

Last updated 07/01/2021. Disclaimer.
Featured image is from the government.

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