6,000 healthcare workers vaccinated against Covid on first day
Over 6,000 healthcare workers in Dutch hospitals have already received the coronavirus vaccine from BioNTech and Pfizer. While hospitals began vaccinating their own workers who are in direct contact with Covid-19 patients, several other nursing home caregivers were given their first of the two-dose vaccine on Wednesday at the GGD Hart voor Brabant facility in Veghel. More than 100 thousand people have scheduled an appointment with the GGD thus far.
A couple of the main hospitals in the Netherlands, such as the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and UMC Utrecht, received deliveries of the vaccine doses directly from the country's storage facility in Oss. From there on out, the vaccines will be distributed to other care facilities in the Netherlands to be given to both workers and patients.
At the Erasmus MC Rotterdam on Wednesday, a nurse received the first shot given by the president of the Dutch Association for Intensive Care, Diederik Gommers, and then administered the second dose to Gommers.
Gommers has been a prominent figure during the pandemic. In the news and on his own social media channels Gommers has been informing the public about the coronavirus and over the vaccine against the disease. He advocated for vaccination to begin as soon as possible.
"We have worked so hard for this moment. I really see this as a new phase", Gommers said to NOS after receiving the shot. In response to the government's decision to start vaccination on Wednesday instead of Friday as initially planned, he stated: “It is a fantastic feeling. We have to make sure to vaccinate everyone in the coming months. Then, we can start our normal lives again.”
Carol Verdonk was the first nurse to be vaccinated at Amsterdam hospital AMC on Wednesday. When asked how she was feeling, she responded: "I feel good. No complaints. Just like any other vaccine. The only difference is that the press are here with cameras and microphones."
Other hospitals in the Netherlands and that have received and already begun administering the vaccine are the:
- Amphia hospital in Breda
- Catharina hospital in Eindhoven
- Deventer hospital
- Haga Hospital in The Hague
- Isala hospital in Zwolle
- Jeroen Bosch Hospital in Den Bosch
- Maasstad hospital in Rotterdam
- Martini hospital in Groningen
- Maxima hospital in Veldhoven
- Meander Medical Center in Amersfoort
- Medisch Spectrum in Twente
- OLVG in Amsterdam
- Rijnstate in Arnhem
- Maastricht UMC
- St Antonius hospital in Nieuwegein
- Zuiderland hospital in Heerlen
Joris Prinssen of UMC Utrecht told NOS that they were "completely ready" to start vaccinating. At the medical center in Utrecht, 900 employees had already registered themselves for the vaccine on Tuesday.
At the hospital in Groningen, the first health care worker to receive the shot stated: "It is a relief to have started with vaccination and vital for the protection of patients, colleagues and myself."
