Janssen Vaccine recipients tricked: Broken cooler led to Dancin’ with Janssen promotion

The "Dancing with Janssen" campaign, with which the cabinet urged young people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 with the Janssen vaccine so that they could go out clubbing, was not based on advice from the Outbreak Management Team as Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said. In fact it was based on a broken cooler box and Jannsen vaccines that had to be used or end up spoiled, television program Propaganda on KRO-NCRV found out.

The Janssen vaccine was initially not recommended for young people due to a small risk of side effects. But on June 7, there was a short circuit at a GGD Utrecht vaccination site in Nieuwegein and a cooler broke, leaving a load of Janssen vaccines at risk of spoiling. The RIVM then gave the green light to vaccinate people with them, regardless of age.

The Janssen shot was particularly popular among young people, because it only requires one dose to be fully vaccinated. They could therefore immediately get a QR code to go dancing in the newly reopened nightclubs.

But with this, young people were severely misled on a large scale, epidemiologist Amrish Baidjoe said to the the program. Because they were not protected against the coronavirus - it takes a few weeks for the vaccine to be optimally effective - even though the cabinet immediately gave them the go-ahead to go dancing. 

This episode on Propaganda will be broadcast on Thursday evening.

The Dancing with Janssen campaign backfired spectacularly, with major coronavirus outbreaks at nightclubs and student parties. The relaxations allowing clubs to open were reversed within three weeks.