De Jonge to announce faster Covid booster plan Tuesday; Child vaccinations underway outside NL

The Cabinet wants to further accelerate the booster campaign against Covid-19. Caretaker Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said that he wants to speed the process up to prevent issues caused by a rise of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. He did not provide details about his plan.

As such, it is unclear if this means that people will not have to wait six months between their final vaccine shot and a booster. The minister said he would release more details about what it means for the pace at which people can receive a booster shot on Tuesday. De Jonge and Prime Minister Mark Rutte will give another press conference about the fight against the coronavirus on Tuesday evening.

The new coronavirus variant emerged last month. "What we are learning from England is that it is spreading quickly," De Jonge said. "What we are also learning from England is that speeding up the boosters does help."

The action plan is being drawn up by the RIVM and the GGD health branches, De Jonge said on Monday. "Tomorrow, I can say to what extent the acceleration will occur."

The Netherlands started boosters very late compared to the rest of the European Union, and the initial vaccination campaign also got off to a slow start. De Jonge previously announced an acceleration, which means that from this week about 700,000 shots per week must be administered. At that rate, everyone will have had their turn by March.

Additionally, young children are already beginning to get vaccinated against Covid-19 in the European Union. Parents in the Czech Republic were able to make appointments for children 5 years of age and older from Monday. Spain will start its process on Wednesday. The process began in Vienna last month, and all appointments were booked within a few days. Denmark also started vaccinating young children last month.

The Netherlands will first send out invitations to children with a higher medical risk during the second half of December. They suffer from health conditions, including severe asthma, or congenital heart defects. Children considered to be less at-risk for serious issues from Covid-19 will be able to get vaccinated starting in the second half of January.

Some EU countries are also acting somewhat slower. In France, only young children in risk groups will initially be eligible for a vaccine. Families can also be more hesitant, with polls in several countries showing that parents can be very divided about having their children vaccinated.

Both parents must give permission for their child to get vaccinated in the Czech Republic. The EU country initially ordered 300,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech specifically for children. That's enough to vaccinate about a third of children between the ages of 5 and 11. Some 6,000 appointments were already made on Monday.

They are given a smaller dose than children aged 12 years and older.