Next round of Covid vaccinations in the Netherlands starts on Monday

The Netherlands’ next round of coronavirus vaccinations will start on Monday. People should get invites for the repeat shot from today. Everyone aged 12 and older can get the repeat jab if their last coronavirus vaccination was at least three months ago.

As with previous rounds of coronavirus vaccinations, healthcare workers with patient contact and people vulnerable to the coronavirus will be first in line to get their shot. This includes people over 60, younger people invited every year for the flu shot, residents of healthcare institutions, and people with Down’s syndrome.

“The repeat jab is extra important for you because you have a higher risk of becoming seriously ill from corona,” the government said to the above-mentioned groups on the Rijksoverheid site. “This is because your immune system works less well. With the repeat jab, you have adequate protection against serious illness and hospitalization.”

The RIVM said that healthcare workers would be invited by their employers, care institutions would offer the shot to their residents, and general practitioners would invite the other high-risk groups. The GP invites should go out in early October, the RIVM said.

People under 60 without additional medical risks can get their shots after the risk groups have been vaccinated. They won’t get an official invite, the RIVM said to RTL Nieuws. “That information will come through, for example, the media.”

The new round of vaccinations will be with the renewed Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which the European Medicines Agency recently approved. In addition to the spike protein of the original coronavirus, these vaccines also contain the spike protein of the Omicron variant. “The renewed vaccines protect against more variants of the coronavirus,” the RIVM said. “The benefits of this repeat shot outweigh the possible side effects for everyone from the age of 12.”