OMT skeptical about effectiveness of Janssen Covid-19 vaccine after two weeks

The Outbreak Management Team expressed doubts about whether Covid-19 vaccine, Janssen, which only requires one shot offers sufficient protection against the delta coronavirus variant. Particularly, young people signed up to receive the jab with the Janssen vaccine because it allowed them to attend events sooner.

“It is still questionable to what extent it indeed offers full immunity against the delta variant 14 days after vaccination”, the OMT commented, according to the ANP. The delta coronavirus variant has proven more contagious than previous coronavirus mutations.

De Jonge wrote in a letter to the Tweede Kamer on Saturday he “wants to take a close look at this comment” and will come back to it soon.

Since the relaxation of coronavirus measures, people were allowed access events immediately after being vaccinated against Covid-19 while it was known that it takes fourteen days for the vaccine to offer optimal protection. Health Minister Hugo de Jonge believed that the advantages of allowing people direct access overweighed the disadvantages. After a few coronavirus outbreaks were reported, De Jonge changed the policy.

People now have to wait two weeks after vaccination to receive the go-ahead in the CoronaCheck app, granting them access to events. A negative coronavirus test also allows access to events. Currently, the coronavirus test cannot be older than 40 hours to gain access to an event. From Tuesday onwards, the rules will be tightening permitting only negative coronavirus tests that were taken in the past 24 hours.

The OMT emphasized that the majority of young people follow coronavirus regulations. According to the OMT, the tightened measures must be maintained until mid-August, when everyone has been vaccinated at least once.