Health Min.: We’re past the second coronavirus peak; Vaccination rollout to take months

The Netherlands is past the peak of the second wave of coronavirus infections. And while vaccine developments look promising, it will be months yet before the Netherlands is vaccinated against Covid-19, Minister Hugo de Jonge of Public Health said in a live question session with Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Facebook on Wednesday.

One viewer asked the Ministers whether they can offer some perspective on the crisis. "What we have to do in the short term is ensure that we get the virus down together. For now; we have really passed the peak." De Jonge answered. "We have turned the corner together, we have started the decline. We just have to hold on to this together. The better we do that, the more we can do."

For the longer term, a vaccine is our best hope, De Jonge said. "But that is not immediate when it comes, it will be delivered in parts. So it will take months before we have vaccinated the whole of the Netherlands." He also addressed commotion around statements he made to newspaper AD, saying that some Covid-19 measures may apply longer for people who have not been vaccinated. De Jonge stressed that the vaccine will not be compulsory, and that there will be no special advantages for people who got the vaccination.

The second hope for the Netherlands in this pandemic, is innovative treatments for the disease, De Jonge went on. "We put a lot of effort into that and we spend a lot of money on it. And rightly so, because that could help us too."