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The Netherlands decided to start the vaccination campaign against covid-19 in January, despite the fact that the entire European Union has already started, considering that “the rush” aims to give “a symbolic spectacle”, but it is dangerous.
“We have to follow a safe path, it is not responsible to start earlier”, explained the Dutch Minister of Health, Hugo de Jonge, to the parliamentarians, highlighting that what his European partners are doing “It is not prudent”.
According to the minister, although some doses of the vaccine are being administered to some people in the rest of the European Union, “The vaccines will take weeks to reach everyone” and The Hague prefers to follow “a series of careful criteria” before starting its campaign.
The decision not to comply with the “EU vaccination days” scheduled by the European Commission (EC) for December 27, 28 and 29, was not a surprise in the Netherlands: before the European Medicines Agency gave the ‘green light’ to the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine, on the 21st, The Hague had already decided to start using the drug only in 2021.
De Jonge criticized the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for causing countries that are not yet ready for mass vaccination “to be forced to make a symbolic start”, which has “doubtful added value” .
“Is it worth deviating from our strategy and the necessary care for symbolism?”, questioned the minister, warning that the local health authorities themselves asked him not to start vaccination before January.
According to the Dutch health authorities, there are still many issues to be resolved before vaccination campaigns start, such as the development of a health guide by the Institute of Public Health and the testing of the country’s computer systems. by technicians.
This is because one of the biggest obstacles is precisely the national registration system, since each injection administered must be registered in a national database that will be established by the institute, but which should only be ready this week.
This system, authorities explained, will not only help know who received which vaccine, but also track vaccine coverage.
In addition, the authorities said, it is necessary to train 350 employees, who will work in the 25 vaccination stations in the country, and around 800 call center operators, who will answer and clarify citizens’ doubts about vaccination.
However, the Dutch Parliament does not understand that all these technical and logistical issues take almost two weeks longer than in the rest of the European Union.
“How difficult can it be to test computer systems?”, questioned the Social Democratic deputy Lodewijk Asscher.
The far-right leader (PVV), Geert Wilders, believes that the official approach “is wrong” and called it “amateurism”, while the socialists lamented that the Netherlands “is falling behind again”, as it happened – as they mentioned, with the coronavirus tracking mobile app or with the ability to test.
Criticism also came from parliamentary groups of government parties. Liberals called for a vaccination “pilot test” to be started, while the Christian Union found the health system approach “too complicated”, lamenting that administrative procedures delay the vaccination campaign.
Despite criticism, the Minister of Health decided to maintain the initial schedule, starting vaccination on January 4 and sending the first calls to the highest risk groups four days later.
“It is not about starting a week earlier or later, it is about vaccination coverage, which will be determined by the care we have”, justified.
Approximately 225,000 health professionals from nursing homes, institutions for the care of people with disabilities and home care will receive, first, the vaccine.
The Government estimates that the first round of vaccination will end on March 1.
