Website for leftover Covid-19 vaccines turns out a success
The website where medical professionals can report leftover Covid-19 vaccines saw a large response from the public. The site created by general practitioner, Marco Blanker and three other doctors, allows people to register for a Covid-19 vaccination with a dose that was leftover from GP offices and other medical institutions in their region.
As of Saturday, 50 general practitioners registered themselves on the site. “We have already been able to place more vaccines than I threw away at the time”, Blanker said.
“People are happy that nothing goes to waste, but I hope that we will soon be redundant”, Blanker said to RTV Oost. Blanker said that the idea for the website came to him after he had to throw away 58 AstraZeneca vaccines last month intended for people who did not show up.
At the end of the day, the website ‘matches’ people who have a leftover vaccine with someone who would like to receive it.
The Ministry of Heal was less enthusiastic about the initiative. The ministry said the vaccines are from the RIVM and that is “not up to others” to redistribute them.
Blanker said the founders of the website have since been in contact with the Ministry of Health. “The ministry thought that we are giving away large quantities of vaccines, but that is not the case. We are a supplement so that no vaccines end up being thrown away.”
The GP added that if the vaccine campaign goes well, their website will soon hopefully no longer be required.
