First 10,000 coronavirus vaccination appointments made

Municipal health service GGD announced that it had scheduled the first ten thousand people to be inoculated against Covid-19 within hours after a special phone number opened up on Monday. Call center workers scheduled one coronavirus vaccination appointment every two seconds during the first 6.5 hours that the hotline was open.

The first workers to get access to the vaccine at the GGD's 26 mass vaccination centers are the 269 thousand nursing home staff members and their colleagues at smaller care facilities. They will get an invitation from their employers to contact the GGD to schedule an appointment.

"More and more care workers are receiving an invitation and calling for an appointment. This can increase the waiting times on the phone," the GGD said at about 2:30 p.m. on Monday. "Our line is open 7 days a week from 8am to 8pm. An appointment is possible for everyone with an invitation."

Vaccinations will start on Wednesday in Veghel, in Rotterdam and Houten on Friday, and then in Amsterdam, Assen and The Hague on Monday. All other locations will open on January 15.

Some 30 thousand people working as doctors and nurses in intensive care units and emergency rooms will also get vaccinated in hospitals beginning on Wednesday. "For the time being, this concerns healthcare staff who provide direct patient care and whose absence due to illness has direct consequences for the admission capacity," the national network of acute care providers LNAZ said in a statement.