People born in 1985, 1986 can book their Covid-19 vaccine shots

All residents of the Netherlands born in 1985 and 1986 can use the online scheduling system to book their Covid-19 vaccination shots starting at about 11:30 a.m., Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said on Monday. The group will be offered vaccines from either BioNTech/Pfizer or Moderna.

The 239 thousand people in this age group will likely receive an invitation in the mail at their registered home address. An appointment can be scheduled before the invitation arrives, something which may also be done over the phone. The shots will be administered at one of the 140 GGD mass vaccination points across the Netherlands.

A paper questionnaire sent with the invitation may be filled out in advance, and will be needed by healthcare workers giving out vaccine shots. Those who schedule an appointment also need to bring an approved form of identification.

De Jonge also said that about 21 thousand people between the ages of 60 and 64 rescheduled their appointments this weekend. This group was originally offered the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is largely no longer in use in the Netherlands over concerns about its links to a rare side effect that causes serious blood clots and a low platelet count after a first injection.

From Saturday, those in that age group who refused the AstraZeneca vaccine were allowed to rebook the appointment to gain access to the BioNTech/Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines instead.

About 10.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been given out in the Netherlands to date.