Home » Business » The Netherlands dangles again at the bottom of the list of EU countries in terms of vaccination rate | NOW

The Netherlands dangles again at the bottom of the list of EU countries in terms of vaccination rate | NOW

Although an injection is made almost every second and the outgoing cabinet has said several times that it wants to speed up the vaccination program, the Netherlands is once again dangling at the bottom of the list of EU countries when it comes to vaccinations carried out. This is evident from figures from the European center for disease prevention and control (ECDC) and the RIVM.

In six countries, relatively fewer first doses were administered, while in only five countries the percentage of fully vaccinated inhabitants is even lower.

The latest vaccination update from the RIVM shows that more than two million Dutch adults have had one injection, about 14.7 percent of the total of fourteen million adults who have to receive an injection. 5.7 percent – some 800,000 adults – have received a second dose. The European average is higher: at 16.3 and 6.8 percent.

The ECDC claims that it has received too little data from the Netherlands. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health confirms this in conversation with NU.nl. “However, we are facing a reporting backlog,” said the spokesperson. Several weeks of data have yet to be handed over to the European watchdog.

Countries can submit data to the ECDC on two days a week: on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Netherlands has now injected nearly 3.1 million injections, instead of the 2.8 million that the RIVM reported on Friday; the Netherlands may therefore take a small step.

The Netherlands caught up after a slower start

In Europe, the Netherlands was long behind the times. The first doses were given later than in other countries and the government chose to withhold a large amount of vaccine doses, so that people who received a first shot would be guaranteed their second dose.

That vaccination strategy was adjusted at the end of February. Outgoing Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge said he was “taking a gamble” and significantly limiting the reserve stock of vaccines, in order to be able to take more first shots. At the beginning of March, this ensured that the Netherlands became one of the EU Member States where the most injections were put.

Since then, as in other European countries, injections with AstraZeneca have been briefly paused twice due to an extremely rare side effect and it became clear that nearly one million fewer doses of vaccine were delivered in the first quarter than initially expected.

It has now been decided that sixty-year-olds will no longer receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. As a result, it has been established that the vaccination program will again be delayed. Other vaccines must now ensure that everyone has had at least one shot by July.

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