Red Cross volunteers deployed to help with Covid vaccinations

The Red Cross is deploying more volunteers to help municipal health service GGD with coronavirus vaccinations, the aid organization said on Monday.

Volunteers were already deployed to vaccination centers in Haaglanden and Hollands Midden. The aid organization will now also help out in Amsterdam-Amstelland, Utrecht, Drenthe, and Hart voor Brabant, NU.nl reports. This aid will be expanded as the vaccination program progresses.

The Red Cross volunteers' main job is to keep an eye on people who were just vaccinated, to watch for fainting or allergic reactions. These reactions to vaccines are very rare, but possible. The volunteers all have first aid training and can help if such reactions do occur. A total of 400 volunteers are available for this aid.

The Netherlands started vaccinating against the coronavirus last week Wednesday, using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Vaccinations started in Veghel, Rotterdam and Houten last week. This week the GGDs in Amsterdam, Drenthe and Haaglanden will follow, according to NOS. Healthcare workers are the first group of Netherlands residents to be vaccinated.

The Moderna vaccine was also approved last week and will be distributed in the Netherlands from Monday.