RIVM overestimated Covid vaccinations by 220,000

Amid increased pressure to provide accurate raw data about the Dutch Covid-19 vaccination program, public health agency RIVM said on Thursday that it overestimated the number of vaccines administered by 220 thousand. The RIVM now claims that 5,176,010 vaccines have been administered in the Netherlands, of which 1.1 million were a person's second dose of a two-dose vaccine.

A report from the Outbreak Management Team this week noted that only about 70 percent of all Covid-19 vaccine shots given have been registered in IT systems and shared with the RIVM. To compensate, the RIVM launched a model at the end of January to provide an estimate of the number of vaccines put into arms. Earlier this month, the agency determined its own model was inaccurate and controversially revised its figures up by 19 percent.

That revision was also inaccurate. "An overestimation of the vaccination figures has previously occurred due to a programming error," the RIVM said on Thursday. Since April 13, the new model has overestimated the number of vaccines given at institutions and by general physicians by about ten percent.

"This is 4% of the total number of injections given."

The RIVM also said it would address concerns from the Outbreak Management Team, a group of healthcare advisors which consult with Cabinet frequently. "The RIVM and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport are working on a solution for this. The RIVM is contacting as many institutions as possible with the urgent request to supply the missing data."

The primary reason given for missing data is privacy concerns. People receiving a vaccine have to give consent for the data to be shared with authorities. However, a secondary system which allows data to be stripped of personal information and shared anonymously has also not been put to good use, the OMT said.