Almost half of the first batch of Janssen vaccines goes to hospital staff who are in direct contact with patients. The caretaker cabinet has announced this. Until now, only hospital workers who work with corona patients have been vaccinated, such as in the ICU or in special Covid units.
On Monday, about 80,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine will be delivered, 35,000 of which will go to hospitals. It is the intention that all hospital employees will be vaccinated with direct patient contact in the coming weeks. Janssen’s 35,000 vaccines are the first step towards this. With that vaccine people only need to be injected once.
Third wave
Earlier this year, about 40,000 doctors and nurses in corona wards have already been vaccinated. Two weeks ago, another 40,000 AstraZeneca vaccines were delivered to acute care personnel, but shortly afterwards, people under 60 were vaccinated with this vaccine. shut down. With the 35,000 Janssen vaccines, hospitals can fill the gap that has arisen, among other things.
“In view of the great pressure in the hospitals with covid patients in this third wave and the need to maintain regular care as much as possible, the government wants to do everything to keep the people in the hospitals going,” the write. ministers De Jonge (Public Health) and Van Ark (Medical Care) in a joint statement.
Call
The vast majority of hospital staff have not yet had a vaccination. This week, several sector organizations drew attention to this. Including the Dutch Association of Hospitals (NVZ) and the professional association for nurses (V&VN) called the cabinet to vaccinate hospital staff more quickly.
“We really understand the call for relaxation. But if we want to keep this up, vaccinating our employees is really the number one priority,” said NVZ director John Taks at the time. He said he was baffled that the outgoing cabinet is considering relaxation.
AstraZeneca
The cabinet decided on Thursday that people under the age of 60 no longer be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. There have been reports of a rare combination of thrombosis and decreased platelet count following AstraZeneca vaccination. As far as is known, this has happened in eight women under the age of 60 in the Netherlands. One of them has passed away.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) judged after research that the blood clotting problems are a very rare side effect that is likely to be less than 1 in 100,000. The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks, according to the EMA. However advised the Health Council in the Netherlands to stop vaccinating people under 60 with AstraZeneca. Minister De Jonge accepted that advice.
The EMA is also investigating the combination of thrombosis and a reduced number of blood platelets after a Janssen vaccination. Of these are worldwide four notifications known, on 4.5 million injections. The Netherlands has ordered more than 11 million Janssen doses. So 80,000 will arrive on Monday, with a second delivery with approximately 90,000 doses at the end of this month. A total of 3 million Janssen vaccines are expected in the second quarter.
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