ICU leader: Hospital Code Black likely without faster Covid boosters, more restrictions

The Netherlands has never been so close to code black in healthcare during the coronavirus pandemic, Diederik Gommers, ICU doctor and head of intensive care association NVIC, said to Nieuwsuur. The Cabinet needs to intervene by taking more measures and bringing up the Covid-19 booster shots, he said.

Code black is when there are too few intensive care beds available for the patients who need them. Then doctors will have to start choosing who gets treated and who doesn't.

"The increase in hospital patients is going faster than the RIVM modelers had anticipated," Gommers told Nieuwsuur. Therefore, it is essential to start administering booster vaccines as quickly as possible to get vulnerable people's immunity against Covid-19 up and keep them out of hospitals.

Armand Girbes, ICU doctor at Amsterdam UMC, agreed with his colleague on the need to speed up the booster injections. "We should've started earlier. But tomorrow is also fine," he said to the program. Starting in December is way too late. "I don't think waiting that long is acceptable. We've been in this situation for so long now."

Earlier this week, nursing homes also called on the Health Ministry to start administering booster shots to their residents and staff sooner than December and January as planned. "December is too late. There is no need to let it take so long. If we have the vaccines now, we can start in one to 1.5 weeks," Arend Pleysier of Sensire, with nursing homes in Gelderland, said to Nieuwsuur.

Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said he would look into starting the rollout of boosters sooner but pointed out that organizing something like this takes time.

The Outbreak Management Team is meeting on Wednesday to discuss possible further measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the Netherlands. The team of experts will update the Cabinet on Thursday, who will then likely give a press conference on Friday.

De Jonge previously warned that the Cabinet might implement more restrictions on Friday, also saying that he can't rule out lockdown-like measures.