New round of Covid vaccinations starting today

The latest round of Covid-19 vaccinations for people at higher risk of becoming severely ill from the coronavirus and healthcare workers with direct patient contact starts today. The municipal health services GGD will administer the shot using the most current available vaccine - the XBB vaccine. According to the health institute RIVM, it “provides the best available protection against the current variants of the coronavirus.”

This round of vaccinations is for people over the age of 60, people aged 18 to 59 who are annually invited to get a flu shot, pregnant women, healthcare workers, and anyone else who wants to get vaccinated, for example, to protect a vulnerable family member or because their doctor advised them to.

People 60 and older received a letter for the shot from the RIVM. Everyone else can make an appointment via this website from mid-October. You can make an appointment until the end of December. The shot will remain available for pregnant women and people with a high medical risk who are referred by a doctor.

“The coronavirus is still here and may revive. That is why the Covid-19 shot is important for people who are at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus. The shot restores their protection against hospitalization and reduces the risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from corona,” the RIVM said.

According to the health service, it is currently unnecessary to vaccinate everyone in the Netherlands against Covid-19 because the population still has broad protection against the virus due to previous vaccinations and infections. The currently dominant Omikron variant also doesn’t make people very sick.