1.1 million Covid booster jabs last week, down 42 percent; Over 53% of adults now covered

Over 1.1 million people were given a Covid-19 booster shot last week, according to the RIVM. That was down by about 42 percent from nearly 1.9 million jabs given a week earlier. Over 7.6 million booster shots were administered in the Netherlands through Sunday.

Because of the sharp drop in vaccination appointments, many branches of the GGD opened up capacity at vaccination centers for people to get a booster shot without an appointment.

“It is now estimated that 53.3% of everyone over 18 received a booster vaccination,” the RIVM said. That rises to about 90 percent when just looking at people over 60.

All adults in the Netherlands have been able to get a booster shot since January 4 or earlier. In order to receive the jab, people must have gone three months without testing positive for the coronavirus. They also have to wait for three months after completing their original series of vaccination. About 420,000 adults tested positive for the coronavirus just in the past three weeks. Recent estimates suggested 1.1 million adults might not yet be eligible for a booster shot.

Only about 11,000 people received their first-ever Covid-19 vaccine shot last week, and almost 20,000 people were given their second dose of a vaccine as part of the original series. Thus far, 86.2 percent of all adults completed their initial course of vaccination against Covid-19.

That falls slightly to 84.6 percent when looking at the population aged 12 and up. Vaccinations for everyone between the ages of 5 and 11 will begin next week.