Vaccination starts for 85- to 89-year-olds

On Friday, the first 50 thousand Netherlands residents between the ages of 85 and 89 received an invitation to be vaccinated. In the letter is information on how the recipients can make an appointment to get the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, NOS reports.

This age group consists of about 258 thousand people. Those who do not get a letter in the first round will receive an invitation next week.

The vaccination of those aged 90 years and above is already underway and is going well according to public health institute RIVM. Willingness to get vaccinated is “extremely high”.

The Red Cross is helping transport the elderly to vaccination locations. “It is important that people are vaccinated as soon as possible”, Red Cross director Marieke van Schaik said to NOS. The organization emphasized that it only transports people who are physically or mentally not able to go to the vaccination locations themselves.

On February 9 the RIVM will commence vaccinating the 400 thousand people aged between 80- and 84-years old with the Pfizer vaccine.