Some 60,000 vaccination appointments made in 2 days; A turning point, Royals say

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima are delighted that vaccination against the coronavirus has started in the Netherlands, calling it a turning point for getting out this crisis. Over the past two days, nearly 60 thousand care workers booked an appointment to be vaccinated through health service GGD.

"The start of vaccinations is a turning point that gives hope for a way out of this crisis," the Royal couple said in a statement published on Twitter. "Many thanks to everyone who are working on this! Now it is important to persevere together."

Over the past two days, 59,608 care workers made an appointment to get their first and second Covid-19 vaccination shots, public health institute RIVM said on Wednesday. Since Monday, the RIVM invited 269 thousand care workers to get vaccinated. 

Covid-19 vaccinations started in the Netherlands on Wednesday morning, with nursing home worker Sanna Elkadiri getting the first shot in Veghel at 8:43 a.m. From January 18, all the GGD vaccination sites in the Netherlands will be operational, according to NOS. From then on, the GGD will be able to vaccinate up to 66 thousand healthcare workers per week. 

Employees of nursing homes and small-scale care homes are first in line to be inoculated against Covid-19, as well as hospital and ambulance employees directly involved in Covid care. More information on who will be vaccinated when in the Netherlands can be found here.