People born in 2001 & 2002 can book Covid-19 vaccines today

Anyone living in the Netherlands and born in the years 2001 or 2002 will get their first opportunity to schedule their appointments to receive Covid-19 vaccine shots starting on Friday. Those born in 2001 can use the online booking system to make the necessary arrangements starting at 10 a.m.

People born a year later will have to wait until 1 p.m., said Health Minister Hugo de Jonge. The vaccines will be given at one of the 140 mass vaccination points set up by the GGD across the Netherlands.

All appointments made this week will be for the mRNA vaccines produced by either Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna, which typically require two shots separated by several weeks for maximum protection. Beginning next week, adults can try to switch their appointment to instead receive the Janssen Vaccine instead.

Only one shot of the Janssen viral vector vaccine is required for full protection from severe symptoms of the coronavirus disease. It was created at a laboratory in Leiden by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.

Healthcare workers in the Netherlands have administered over 13 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to date. Roughly a third of adult residents, 4.5 million people, are considered to be fully vaccinated against the disease.