Covid booster shot campaign opens to everyone 12 and up

Everyone aged 12 and older can now make an appointment for a repeat vaccination against the coronavirus, the RIVM and GGD reported. That means that everyone who qualifies for the booster shot can get one at a vaccination location.

People aged 12 and older can get the repeat vaccination if it has been at least three months since their previous coronavirus shot or infection. You also need to have completed the “basic series” of vaccinations. That means you got both shots of the Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax, or AstraZeneca vaccines or one shot of the Janssen vaccine.

The repeat shot boosts the immune system’s response against the coronavirus so that people are better protected against it. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) reported on Tuesday that while the number of coronavirus infections is decreasing, it is not yet clear whether the autumn wave is really over.

This is mainly due to sub-variants of the virus that are currently circulating. Several versions of the omicron variant are presently circulating. The Europan health service expects that one of these sub-variants, BQ.1, will soon become dominant, leading to more infections.

The current booster shot campaign uses Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that have been modified to work better against the omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.