Thousands of GGD employees throughout the country are doing everything they can to offer all Dutch people aged 18 and older a booster shot in the coming weeks. The GGDs do this partly thanks to the help of all kinds of parties such as hospitals, general practitioners, Defense and first aiders from the Red Cross. As of today, the GGDs will accelerate once again; a gear on top of the gear that was used earlier.
Patience and understanding
The aim is to give everyone aged 18 and older the opportunity to make an appointment for a booster jab around 7 January. This booster shot is important because it provides extra protection against the omikron variant. GGD GHOR Nederland therefore understands the enormous demand for a booster and employees are motivated to meet every demand. However, the umbrella organization once again asks for patience and understanding from everyone, both on the phone and certainly also at the injection locations. “Be a little understanding towards each other.” Not everything will go smoothly in the coming weeks. That is impossible in the enormous operation facing the GGDs.
Booster appointment for over 60s
About 280,000 people over the age of 60 have an appointment before the turn of the year. These people will be given the opportunity to move the appointment to before December 31, 2021, insofar as capacity allows. It may not be possible for all people to reschedule the appointment. Next week, the GGDs will send an SMS with instructions to the people for whom space becomes available. GGD GHOR Nederland calls on people not to contact them themselves, but to wait for the SMS with further instructions.
Invitation per year of birth
The priority these days is with the over 60s. Everyone from this age group has received an invitation, but not everyone has scheduled an appointment yet. In addition, the term for a booster shot has gone from 6 to 3 months. This has led to a flood of appointment requests in this age group in recent days. More than 1 million people fall into this group. In the short term, the GGDs want to start inviting again per year of birth, on the basis of old to young.
Regional differences in approach
All GGDs are expanding their injection capacity to the maximum. That is already happening, but together with all the help from hospitals, general practitioners, Defense and the Red Cross, among others, we are going to look even more at regional level where we can expand and grow. The injection capacity is now being expanded daily with, among other things, new locations and extended opening hours. Regional differences may arise in the implementation, because each region, depending on the capacity demands, implements the implementation with its own innovative and creative ways, in order to implement the required scaling up as quickly as possible.
Continue to grow
We are rapidly growing to more than 1.5 million injections per week. For next week we are aiming for about 1 million pricks and will continue to grow after that. The GGDs are actively recruiting for all different functions. We have experienced a lot of pressure at the call center in recent days. That is why the call to make an appointment online as much as possible. Help each other or ask children and grandchildren for help if making an appointment online is difficult.
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