Less than 300,000 Covid-19 vaccines administered last week; 72% Fully vaccinated

The weekly total number of Covid-19 vaccinations in the Netherlands continued its months-long tumble, with just 295,997 people receiving an injection during the last calendar week. That was about 60 percent lower than the previous week, the RIVM said.

It was the lowest number of injections given in a calendar week since the end of March. Vaccine placement peaked when over 1.8 million were vaccinated during the week ending June 20. The weekly total has steadily declined ever since.

Less than 72,000 people received their first Covid-19 vaccine injection last week, including about 3,600 who were given the Janssen Vaccine. As opposed to other products from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, the Janssen Vaccine currently requires one dose for full protection.

“In the vaccination report from the RIVM, it shows that the turnout for a first vaccination is no longer increasing in most age groups,” the RIVM said for the second straight week.

About 45 percent of all vaccine shots given last week were administered to children between the ages of 12 and 17, one of the only age groups showing strong improvement in inoculations. Just over 19 percent went to people between 18 and 25. Roughly 9 percent were given to people from 26 to 30 years of age.

72% of eligible population now fully vaccinated

Anyone from the age of 12 can get vaccinated against Covid-19. Including all eligible people, about 82.4 percent of the population has been given at least a first vaccine dose, and 72 percent are now counted as fully vaccinated

“It is estimated that 84.9% of everyone 18 and up have now received a first vaccination, and 75.7% are fullly vaccinated,” the RIVM said.

However, only about half of people between 18 and 30 are fully vaccinated, according to the institute’s data. “The vaccination rate among 18-25 year-olds has risen to over 52% and to 54% among 26-30 year-olds,” the RIVM said.

Higher education classes are to resume in-person coursework next week. While organizations representing students praised the government’s decision, one University of Twente lecturer argued that only vaccinated students should be allowed to attend classes. One University of Amsterdam lecturer also resigned, saying that the university “has chosen to focus on what is allowed rather than what is responsible.”

Moments before the Cabinet announced the decision to largely reopen higher education facilities, the organization overseeing the GGD municipal health services said it was too soon. September 19 would have been a better start date. “Only then will everyone have had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated, including the two-week period of immunity build-up," GGD GHOR Nederland stated.

Almost 22.7 million vaccines given to date

A total of 22,655,042 Covid-19 vaccines have been given since January 6. The RIVM said that 12,512,573 of the shots were a person’s first dose, including over 785,229 who received the Janssen Vaccine. The other 10,142,469 were a second dose of another vaccine.

The Netherlands considers those who have received one dose of any vaccine, and also recovered from a confirmed infection of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, to be fully vaccinated against the disease. However, the RIVM’s vaccination data does not account for that group of people.